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JOHN SELDEN 



TABLE-TALK 

1689. 



(Above all things, Liberty). 



CAREFULLY EDITED BY 

EDWARD ARBER, 

Affociate, King's College, Loudon, F.R.G.S., &*c 



Large Paper Edition. 



LONDON : 
ALEX. MURRAY & SON, 30, QUEEN SQUARE, W.C. 

Ent. Stat. Hall.] I March, 1869. [All Rights referred. 










CONTENTS. 

Chronicle oi the Life, Works, and Times, of John Selden 3 

Introduction, 9 

BlBLIOGRArilY, ........ 12 

TABLE-TALK. ... 13 

1. The Table 14 

2. Dedication to Seidell's Trustees, by Rev. Richard 

Milward, sometime his amanuensis ". . . 16 

3. The Difcoukses of John Selden, E?q. ^ . 17 





CHRONICLE 

• of . 

fome of the principal events • 
in the 

Life, Works, and Times 
-' of 
JOHN SELDEN. 

Antiquary, Philologist, Heraldist, Linguist, Jurist, Statesman, &c. 



• * Probable or approximate dates. 
A Life of Selden does not exist : to the great reproach of the Lawyers, 
All accounts of him are but sketches. 

Few of Selden's many works have been mentioned here, for want of space. 

A list of them is given in Dr. Aikin's Life of Selden, pp. 197-9. Ed. 1812. 

1558. flob. 17. iSlijaietlj fjrgtns to reign. 

/ John Selden, the glory of the English nation, as 

Hugo Grotius worthily stiles him. son of John Selden, 

by Margaret his wife, the only daughter of Thomas 

Baker of Rushington, (descended from the knightly 

family of the Bakers in Kent) was born in an obscure 

village called Salvington near to Terring a market town 

in Sussex. His father .... was a sufficient plebeian, 

and delighted much in music, by the exercising of which 

he obtained (as 'tis said) his wife, of whom our famous 

£l 1584. Dec. 16. author Jo. Selden was born on the i6thof Decemb. 1584. 

Wood, Ath. Oxoii. iii. i66^Ld. 1817. 
g J The birthplace of John Selden is Salvington, a hamlet 

^c 1 of the parish of West Tarring, in the county of Sussex. 

Tarring is about two miles from Worthing. . . . The 
cottage in which he was born still remains. It was then 
known as Lacies, being the residence attached to a farm 
of about eighty-one acres. The date of 1601 is upon its 
front. G. W. Johnson. Memoirs of John Selden, 
pp. 33. 34. Ed. 1835. 
Dec. 20. '15S4 — John, the sonne of John Selden, the minstrell, 
was baptized the 20th day of December.' Parish Register 
of West Tarring. 

Besides John there were two younger sons, who died 
infants, and a daughter, who married to a John Bernard 
of Goring in Sussex : by whom she had two sons and 
four daughters. The}' appear to have remained in humble 
situations. Johnson, p. 36. 

He was 'instructed in grammar learning in the Free 
School at Chichester, under Mr. Hugh Barker of New 
College [Oxford].' Wood, idem. 

On the inside of the lintel of his birthplace and home 

"is carved a Latin distich, said to have been composed 

:59§. -et. 10. by Selden when only ten years old. . . . The following 

literal copy made at the time of a personal inspection 

[in August 1834] i s submitted to the reader's judgement. 

gratvs Honeste MIH' no clavDaR inito sedeb' 

FVR AREAS \ NO SV FACTA SOLVTA TIBI. 

The last character of the first line is somewhat imperfect. 
It probably was intended as a contraction of ' que ' In 
this case the literal translation is ' Honest friend thou 
art welcome to me, I will not be closed, enter and be 
seated. Thief begone, I am not open to thee'" 
Johnson, idem. 



o 



CHRONICLE. 

I 1600. Mich. term. By the care and advice of his schoolmaster, Selden 
aet. 15. enters Hart Hall, ©xford : and is 'committed to the 
tuition of Mr. Anthony Barker, one of the Fellows,' 
brother to his schoolmaster, by ' whom he was instructed 
in logic and philosophy for about three years, which 
with great facility he conquered.' Wood. idem. 

' Sir Giles Mompessen told me, that he was then of 
4ji ; that house, and that Selden was a long scabby -pol'd boy 

but a good student.' Aubrey MSS. quoted in Bliss's 
Edition of Wood; ut supra. 
\i602. act. 17. Becomes a member of Clifford's Inn. 

1603. i#ar. 24. James I. succee&s to itje ©nglfsf) croton. 

1604. May. Removes to the Inner Temple. " His chamber was 

ast. 19 in the Paper buildings which looke towards the garden, 

staire-case, uppermost story, where he had a 

little gallery to walke in. He was quickly taken notice 
of for his learning." — Aubrey MSS., idem. 

After he had continued there a sedulous student for 
some time, he did by the help of a strong body and vast 
memory, not only run through the whole body of the 
law, but became a prodigy in most parts of learning, 
especially in those which were not common, or little 
frequented, or regarded by the generality of students 
of his time. So that in few years his name was 
wonderfully advanced, not only at home, but in forreign 
countries, and was usually stiled the great dictator of 
learning of the English nation. 

He seldom or never appeared publickly at the bar, 
(tho' a bencher) but gave sometimes chamber-counsel, 
and was good at conveyance. 

He had a very choice library of books, as well MSS. 
as printed, in the beginning of all or most of which he 
wrote either in the title, or leaf before it, irepl iravros r'tjv 
eXtvtiepiav : Above all, Liberty ; to shew, that he 
would examine things, and not take them upon trust. 
Wood. Idem. 

[Dr. Bliss, on this, says, I shall take leave to render 
the words Above every thing, Liberty ! 
That is, liberty is dearer to me and more desirable than 
every other blessing ; even than life itself: a sentiment 
worthy not only of Selden, but of every one who calls 
himself an Englishman." — Wood. Idem.] 

He was solicitor and steward for the Earle of Kent. — 
Aubrey MSS. idem. 

1607. aet. 22. He publishes his first work A nalecton A nglo-Britannicon. 

1612. ast. 27. He furnishes Drayton with notes to the first 18 Chap- 
ters of his Polyolbio?i published the next year. 

1614. aet. 29. He publishes Titles of Honour, ' his largest English, 

and in the opinion of Usher, his best work.' — Johnson, 
idem. 

161 7. aet. 32. He publishes De Diis Syris, Syntagmata duo: a 
history of the Idol deities of the Old Testament. 

i6i3. act. 33. [Preface dated Apr. 4.] Selden publishes The Historie 

of Tithes, that is, The practice of payment of them. The 
positive laws made for them. The opinions touching 
the right of them. Whereupon a needless ecclesiastical 
uproar arises. Selden tells us " Having at length . . . 
composed it, I committed it to the censure of one that 
had the powei of licensing it for tJie press. I left it with 
him, and to his own time, and without so much as any 
further request from me to him . He sent it to me licensed, 



CHRONICLE. 5 

with ita est, and subscription of his name. Then was 
it printed, and until it was wholly printed, I never had 
the least expression of any dislike to it from any man 
that had any authority or power of 'command, either in 
the state, or in the church. — Omna opera, iii. 1456. 
Dec. The king, who had no knowledge of Selden but through 

the misrepresentations of his courtiers, summoned him 
by his secretary, Sir Robert Naunton, to appear, with 
his work, at the Palace of Theobalds. ' I,' says Selden, 
' being then entirely a stranger to the court, and known 
personally there to a very few, was unwilling to go thither 
unaccompanied,' and consequently heobtained the attend- 
ance of his old friend and fellow-templar, Edward Hey- 
ward, of Reepham, in Norfolk, and of Ben Jonson, 
'princeps poetarum,' to introduce him to the king. . . . 
Selden had two conferences with King James at Theo- 
bald's, and one at Whitehall, and bears testimony in 
several parts of his after-writings to the ability and 
courtesy of his Majesty. — Johnson, pp. 64, 67. 
1619. Jan. 28. Selden however is cited before the High Commission 

act. 34. Court at Lambeth Palace. One of his opponents, Dr. 
Richard Tillesley, Archdeacon of Rochester, in his 
Animadversions up07i Mr. Selden' s History of Tyihes 
and his Review thereof, 2nd Edition, 1621, triumphantly 
quotes the following : — 

His submission because he denieth to haue beene in 
the High Commission Cozirt, and for that in my A nswere 
to his Pamphlet it is not so perfkly related, may it please 
thee Reader, here to reade it whole out of the Registry 
of that Court. 

Vicesimo octauo die Mensis lanuarij, A nno Domini 
iuxta Computationem Ecclesice A nglicance 1618. Coram 
Reueretidissimo in Christo patre, Domino Georgio, pro- 
■uidetitia diuina Caniiiariensi Archiepiscopo, totius 
Anglice Primate et Metropolitano, Iohanne Londoti, 
Laficelot Winton, et Iohanne Roffen, eadem protcidentia 
respectiue Episcopis : Iohanne Bennet, Willielmo Bird 
et Georgio Newman, Mililibus, in Matter io Archie- 
piscopali apzcd Lambehith in ComitaUi Surrey, iudi- 
cialiter sedentibits : prcesente Thoma Mottershed. 

Officium Dominorum contra lohatmein Selden de 
Inter iori Teniplo London, Armigerum. 

This day appeared personally Iohn Selden Esquire, 
and made his submission all vnder his owne hand writing, 
touching the publication of his Booke entituled The His- 
tory of Tithes, Sub tenore verborum sequente. 

"My good Lords, I most humbly acknowledge my 
errour, which I haue committed in publishing the History 
of Tithes, and especially, in that I have at all by shewing 
any interpretation of holy Scriptures, by medling with 
Councels, Fathers, or Canons, or by what elsesoeuer 
occurres in it, offered any occasion of Argument against 
any right of Maintenance Hire Diuino of the Ministers 
of the Gospell : Beseeching your Lordships to receiue 
this ingenuous and humble acknowledgement, together 
with the vnfeigned protestation of my griefe, for that 
through it I haue so incurred both his Maiesties and 
your Lordships displeasure conceiued against mee in the 
behalfe of the Church of England. — Iohn Selden." 

The High Commission Court suppress his book. 

This ' usage sunk so deep into his stomach, that he did 



CHRONICLE. 

never after affect the bishops and clergy, or cordially 
approve their calling, tho' many ways were tried to gain 
him to the church's interest.' — Wood, idem. 

1619. Selden's father dies. 

About this time finishes his work on the Sovereignty 
of the sea, Mare Clausum, sen de Dominio Maris in 
answer to Grotius' Mare liberum. Not published till 
1635. For history of this book, see Johnson, pp 207-210. 

1621. Dr. Richard Mountagu — afterwards Bp. in succession 

of Chichester and Norwich — publishes his Diatribce vpon 
the first part of the late History of Tythes. King 
James tells Selden ' If you or your friends write anything 
against his [Dr. M's] confutation, I will throw you into 
prison.' — Mare Clausum. See Opera Omnia, ii. 1423. 

1624. Feb. 12 — King James' last Parliament. Selden first appearance 
May 29. set. 39. in the House, as M.P. for Lancaster. See John Forster's 
admirable Life of Sir John Eliot, London 1864, for the 
best account of Selden's early Parliamentary career. 
Trinity Selden is chosen Reader of Lyon's Inn. He refuses 

term. the office thrice. 

Oct. 2r. The Benchers' displeasure is thus recorded in their 

Register. "The masters of the bench, taking into con- 
sideration his contempt and offence, and for that it is 
without precedent that any man elected to read in 
chancery has been discharged in the like case, much 
less has with such wilfulness refused to read the same, 
have ordered that he shall presently pay to the use of 
this house the sum of twenty pounds for his fine, and 
that he stand and be disabled ever to be called to the 
bench, or to be Reader of this house." — Johnson, p.m. 

1625. .par. 27. <£j)arles I. tccomrs ftfng. 
1626. Feb.6-June King Charles' second Parliament. Selden is returned 
15. set. 41. for Great Bedwin in Wilts. During the session is en- 
trusted with the 4th and 5th articles of the Impeachment 
of the Duke of Buckingham. 
1628. Mar. 17. King Charles' third Parliament. Selden is member 

for Ludgershal. Takes part in the preparation of ' The 
Petition of Right.' 
^1629. Mar. 10. He and others are imprisoned for several months. 

1632. set. 47. The Benchers of Inner Temple rescind their order of 

1624. 
Michs. Term. Selden is elected a Bencher of their Inn. 

1639. set. 54. The Earl [of Kent] died in 1639, without issue, and 

from that time Selden appears to have made the family 
mansions at Wrest in Bedfordshire, and White Friars in 
London, his places of residence. Aubrey says he mar- 
ried the Countess Dowager, and that ' he never owned 
the marriage with the Countess of Kent till after her 
death, upon some lawe account. He never kept any 
servant peculiar, but my ladie's were all of his command ; 
he lived with her in CEdibus Carmeliticis (White 
Fryers) which was, before the conflagration, a noble 
dwelling. He kept a plentifull table, and was never 
without learned company.' — Aubiry MSS. 

1640. Nov. 3. The Long Parliament assembles. Selden sits for 

aet. 5j Oxford University. For his share in public transactions, 

see John Forster's two works published in London i860. 

The Grand Remonstrance and The A rrest of the Five 

Members. 

1642. May. The King being half-minded to dismiss the Lord 

aet. jj. Keeper Littleton, commands Hyde and Lord Falkland 



CHRONICLE. 7 

to report whether Selden should be offered the Great 
Seal. Their report wa« : " They did not doubt of Mr. 
Selden % Affection to the King, but withal they knew 
him so well, that they concluded, he would absolutely 
refuse the place, if it were offer'd to him. He was in 
years, and of a tender constitution ; he had for many 
years enjoyed his ease, which he loved ; was rich; and 
would not have made a Journey to York, or have layn 
out of his own bed, for any Preferment, which he had 
never affected." — Clarendon, Hist, of tJie Rebellion. Bk. 
iv. 445, Ed. 1702. 
1643. set. 5*- Whitelock in his Memorials, tells us : "Divers Mem- 
bers of both Houses, whereof I was one, were Members 
of the Assembly of Divines, and had the same Liberty 
with the Divines to sit and debate, and give their Votes 
in any Matter which was in consideration amongst 
them : In which Debates Mr. Selden spake admirably, 
and confuted divers of them in their own Learning. And 
sometimes when they had cited a Text of Scripture to 
prove their Assertion, he would tell them, Perliaps in 
your little Pocket Bibles with gilt Leaves (which they 
would often pull out and read) the Translation may be 
thus, but tlie Greek or the Hebrew, sig71ifi.es thus and 
thus; and so would totally silence them."—/. 71. Ed.xj^2. 
1643. Dec 12. On the presentation of Philip, Count of Pembroke : 
Selden's amanuensis, Rev. Richard Milward, becomes 
. Rector of Great Braxted, in Essex. He holds this living 
until his death. Newcourt Repertorium, ii. 92, Ed. 17 10. 
1645. Apr. aet 60. Is one of a joint commission of both houses to ad- 
minister the Admiralty. 
Aug. Is elected Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge : but 

declines it. 

A 1647. Jan- IU The House of Commons votes those members im- 

c j prisoned in 1628 ' for oppressing the illegalities of that 

1-1 I time,' ^£coo each. Selden is believed to have only 

\ accepted one-half. 

■1651. Dec. 3. The Countess Dowager of Kent dies in White Friars. 

Rev. J. Granger. Biogr. Hist. ii. 375, Ed. 1773. She 
appointed Selden her executor, and bequeathed to him 
the Friary House, in White Friars. Johnson, idem. 
The opinion that he then and thus attained his chief 
riches is contradicted by the fact that he was reputed a 
rich man in 1642. 

He would tell his intimate friends, Sir Bennet 
Hoskyns, &c, that he had nobody to make his heire, 
except it were a milk-mayd, and that such people did 
not know what to doe with a great estate. A ubrey JISS. 
[653. June it. Selden makes his will [printed in Omnia Opera, I. liii. 

aet. o.s. Ed. 1726.] He leaves the bulk of his property, esti- 
mated at ,£40,000, to his four executors ; Edward Hey- 
ward, Esq., Matthew Hale (afterwards Lord Chief 
Justice of the King's Bench 1 , John Vaughan (afterwards 
Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas) , and Rowland 
Jewks the elder. Aubrey says : " He intended to haue 
given his owne library to the Vniversity of Oxford, but 
received disobligation from them, for that they would 
not lend him some MSS. wherefore by his will he left it 
to the disposall of his executors, who gave it to the Bod- 
leian library at Oxon .... He would write some- 
times, when notions came into his head, to preserve 
them, under his barber's hands. When he dyed, his 
barber sayd he had a great mind to know his will,' For,' 



? 



CHRONICLE. 

sayd he, ' I never knew a wise man make a wise 
will.' 

1654. Nov. 30. act. 69. John Selden dies at White Friars, of dropsy. 

Dec. 14. Is magnificently buried in the Temple church. His 

executors 'invited all the parliament men, all the 
benchers, and great officers. All the judges had mourn- 
ing, as also an abundance of persons of quality.' Arch- 

k bishop Usher preached his funeral sermon. Wood, idem. 

We may adduce the testimony of three contemporaries : — 

1. G. Berkeley, Earl of Berkeley, in his Historical Applications and occa- 
sional Meditations upon several subjects. Written by a Person of Honour. 
London 1670, p. 12. gives us the following — 

Our Learned Selden, before he dyed, sent for the most Reverend Arch-Bishop 
Vsher, and the Rev. Dr. Langbaine, and discoursed to them of this purpose ; 
That he had suruey'd most part of the Learning that was among the Sons o) 
Men; that he had his Study full of Books and Papers of most Stcbjects in the 
•world : yet at that time he could 7iot recollect any passage out ofhifinite Books 
and Manuscripts he was Master of wherein he co?tld Rest his Soul, save otit 
of the Holy Scriptures ; ivherein the most remarkable passage that lay most 
tipon his spirit was Titus ii. II, 12, 13, 14. 

2. E.Hyde, Lord Clarendon, in his Autobiography, written about 20 years after 
Selden's death, gives the following character of him, in which may be traced 
admiration for his character and abilities ; and regret, it may be sneering re- 
sentment, at his choosing the side of the Parliament in the Civil War. 

" Mr. Selden was a Person, whom no Character can flatter, or transmit 
in any Expressions equal to his Merit and Virtue ; He was of so stupendous 
Learning in all Kinds, and in all Languages (as may appear in his excellent 
and transcendent Writings) that a man would have thought He had been 
entirely conversant amongst Books, and had never spent an Hour but in 
Reading and Writing ; yet his Humanity, Courtesy, and Affability was such, 
that He would have been thought to have been bred in the best Courts, but 
that his good Nature, Charity, and Delight in doing good, and in communi- 
cating all He knew, exceeded that Breeding : His Stile in all his Writings 
seems harsh and sometimes obscure : which is not wholly to be imputed to 
the abtruse Subjects of which He commonly treated, out of the Paths trod 
by other Men ; but to a little undervaluing the Beauty of a Stile, and too 
much Propensity to the Language of Antiquity ; but in his Conversation 
He was the most clear Discourser, and had the best Faculty in making hard 
Things easy, and presenting them to the Understanding, of any Man that 
hath been known. Mr. Hyde was wont to say, that He valued himself upon 
nothing more than upon having had Mr. Selden's Acquaintance from the 
Time He was very young ; and held it with great Delight as long as They 
were suffered to continue together in Loudon; and He was very much 
troubled always when He heard him blamed, censured, and reproached, for 
staying in London, and in the Parliament, after They were in Rebellion, and 
in the worst Times, which his Age obliged him to do ; and how wicked soever 
the Actions were, which were every Day done, He was confident He had 
not given his Consent to them ; but would have hindered them if He could, 
with his own Safety, to which He was always enough indulgent. If He had 
some Infirmities with other Men, they were weighed down with wonderful and 
prodigious Abilities and Excellencies in the other Scale." — Life,^. 16. Ed. 1759- 

3. Rev. Richard Baxter, in his Additional Notes on the Life and Death of 
Sir Matthew Hale. Kt. London 1682. p. 40, thus writes : — 

"I know you are acquainted, how greatly he [Sir M. Hale] valued Mr. 
Selden, being one of his Executors; his Books and Picture being still near 
him. I think it meet therefore to remember, that because many Hobbists 
do report, that Mr. Selden was at the heart an Infidel, and inclined to the 
Opinions of Hobbs, I desired him [Sir M. Hale] to tell me the truth herein ; 
And he oft professed to me, that Mr. Selden was a resolved serious Christian ; 
and that he was a great adversary to Hobbs his errors ; and that he had seen 
him openly oppose him so earnestly, as either to depart from him, or drive 
him out of the Room." 



THE 

TABLE-TALK of JOHN SELDEN. 




IN TROD UCTION. 

BOOK of Apothegms is an armoury of 
thoughts more or lefs felicitouily ex- 
preffed. Rightly read, it acts as a tonic 
on the mind. The subjects are fo dis- 
connected and follow the one the other fo 
rapidly : the opinions and arguments are fo incifively 
expreffed, and are often fo apparently contradictory 
and paradoxical : that the whole work becomes hard to 
read, and ftill harder to digefl. Rapid reading of fuch 
condenfed thought is unproductive ; careful fludy, 
however, makes it both enjoyable and fruitful : and 
that in proportion to the activity of the reader's mind. 
It is clear, therefore, that Apothegms are rather fub- 
jects for confideration than articles for belief. They 
mufl be thoroughly examined. They mufl be, fo to 
fpeak, unravelled and unfolded, that their inwrapped 
principles may be underftood in their nature, applica- 
tions, and confequences ; in order that concinnated 
fpeech may not beguile us from truth, or aphorifms 
charm us into injuftice and error. 

It is further evident, that our final judgment of the 
opinions of the Author mull be fufpended until we 
thus poffefs his whole work. In particular, in the 
prefent inftance, we fhould not forget that we have 
but ftray fragments of talk, feparated from the context 
of cafual and unreftrained converfations ; collected 
— probably without the Speaker's knowledge — one, two, 
or three at a time, over a period of twenty years ; and 
claffmed long afterwards, as feemed beft to their Pref erver 



io Introduction. 

Thefe Sayings were publifhed thirty-five years after 
Selden's death, and nine years after their recorder — 
the Rev. Richard Milward, S.T.P., who died Canon of 
Windfor, Rector of Great Braxted, and Vicar of Ifle- 
worth — had paffed away. While they are, therefore, 
thus doubly pofthumous in publication, they muft be 
long antedated in utterance. Table-lalk belongs 
chiefly, if not entirely, to 1634 — 1654, and therefore 
appertains to the firfl rather than the fecond half of 
the Seventeenth century. 

Thefe Difcourfes fhow fomewhat of the mind, but 
not the whole mind of Selden, even in the fubjects 
treated of. What muft have been the fulnefs of infor- 
mation, the aptnefs of illuflration, the love of truth, 
the juftnefs of reafoning, when fuch fragments as thefe 
could be picked up by a cafual hearer? Bacon's 
Effays are moft carefully finifhed compofitions : 
Selden's Table -Talk is the fpontaneous incidental out- 
pouring of an overflowing mind ; and yet it may not 
unworthily compare with the former. 

Paffmg by acute infight into human nature, and 
great antiquarian refearch, can we gather, however 
imperfectly, from the prefent work, any idea as to 
what Selden's main opinions were ? We think we may. 

In this work, as elfewhere, John Selden is the 
Champion of Human Law. It fell to his lot to live in 
a time when the life of England was convulfed, for 
years together, beyond precedent ; when menfearched 
after the ultimate and effential conditions and frames 
of human fociety; when each ftrove fiercely for his 
rights^ and then as dogmatically afferted them. 

Amidft immenfe, prepofterous, and inflated affump- 
tions ; through the horrid tyranny of the fyftem of the 
Thorough; in the exciting debates of Parliament; in 
all the ftorm of the Civil War ; in the flill fiercer 
jarring of religious feels; amidft all the phenomena of 
that age ; Selden clung to ' the Law of the Kingdom.' 
'All is as the State pleafes.' He advocates the 



Introduction. 1 1 

fupremacy of Human Law againft the fo- called aocftrine 
of Divine Right. He thrufts out the Civil Power 
againft all Ecclefiaflical pretentions, and raifmg it to 
be the highefl authority in the State, denies the exili- 
ence of any other co-ordinate power. So ftrongly does 
he affert the power of the Nation to do or not to do, 
that, for the purpofe of his argument, he reduces Re- 
ligion almofl to a habit of thought, to be affumed or 
call off, like a faihion in drefs, at will. ' So Religion 
was brought into kingdoms, fo it has been continued, 
and fo it may be cail out, when the State pleafes.' * 
' The Clergy tell the Prince they have Phyfick good 
for his Soul, and good for the Souls of his People, upon 
that he admits them: but when he finds by Experience 
they both trouble him and his People, he wijl have no 
more to do with them, what is that to them or any 
body elfe if a King will not go to Heaven 'f 'The 
State ftill makes the Religion and receives into it, 
what will bed agree with it.'§ 

Selden lodges the Civil Power of England, in the 
King and the Parliament. He (hews that our Eng- 
lifh Conftitution is but one great Contract between 
two equal Princes, the Sovereign and the People ; 
and that if that Contract be broken, both parties are at 
parity again. That, by a like confent, the majority in 
England governs ; the minority affenting to the judge- 
ment of the majority, and being involved in their 
decifion. Finally, reducing all relationfhips to like 
mutual Agreements, he urges the keeping of Contracts, 
as the effential bond of Human fociety. ' Keep your 
Faith.' 

The way thefe views are enforced, fully juftifies Lord 
Clarendon's opinion of him, that ' in his Converfation 
He was the moft clear Difcourfer, and had the heft 
Faculty in making hard Things eafy, and prefenting 
them to the Underftanding, of any Man that hath 
iown.' % 

P. 20. t P. 36. § P. 130. t p. 8. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

THE TABLE-TALK OF JOHN SELDEN. 

* Editions not feen. 

(a) Issues In tfje iautljor's lifetime. 

None. 

(6) Issues since tlje 3utIjor's treaty. 

I. As a fepar ale publication. 

1. 1689. London. Editio priticeps : fee title on oppofitc 

1 vol. 4to. page. 

2. 1696. London. 'The Second Edition' of No. 1. 

1 vol. 8vo. Printed for Jacob Tonfon. 

3. *i698. London. According to Britif/i Mufeum Cata- 

1 vol. 8vo. logue. 

4. 1 7 16. London. 'The Third Edition' of No. 1. 

1 vol. i2mo. Printed for Jacob Tonfon. 

6. * 1 786. London. With a life of the Author. Lowndes. 

1 vol. i2mo. 

7. *I789. London. With a dedication to C. J., Efq., 

1 vol. 24mo. printed in red letter. Lmvndes. 

8. *i8i9. Edinburgh. With notes by David Irving, LL. D. 

1 vol. i2mo. 

9. 1847. London. The Table-Talk of John Selden 

I vol. 8vo. Efqre., with a biographical preface and 
notes by S. W. Singer Efqre. 

10. *i847. London. Table-Talk. Englijh Catalogue. 

1 vol. 32mo. 

11. 1854. Edinburgh. The Table Talk of John Selden: 

1 vol. 8vo. with notes by David Irving, LL.D. 
Another edition of No. 8. 

12. 1856. London. Library of Old Authors. Second 

1 vol. 8vo. edition of No. 9. 

13. i860. London. Library of Old Authors. Third 

1 vol. 8vo. edition of No. 9. 

14. 1 June, 1868. London. EugliJJi Reprints : fee title on page I. 

1 vol. 8vo. 

II. With other works. 

5. 1726. Londini. Joannis Seldeni Iurifconfulti opera 
3 vols. (6 parts) fol. omnia, tarn edita quam inedita. Edited 

by Rev. David Wilkins, S. T. P. 
Archdeacon of Suffolk, &c. ' Table 
Talk' occupies iii. 2000 — 2080. 

* * * It is ftrange, that but for the efforts of two gentlemen, 
Dr. Trving and Mr. Singer, only a fmgle edition of the ' Table 
Talk ' would have appeared this century. The neglect of our 
Englifh mafterpieces of thought is a thing incredible. 



Table-Talk: 



BEING THE 



DISCOURSES 

OF 

John Selden Efq. ; 

OR HIS 

SENCE 

Of Various 

MATTERS 

OF 

Weight and High Consequence 

Relating efpecially to 

Religion and State. 

Dijlingite Tempora. 

LONDON, 
Printed for E. Smith, in the Year MDCLXXXIX. 



THE TABLE. 



Abbies, Priories, &c. 






17 


Articles, Baptifm, . . . 






18 


Bailard, Bible, Scripture, 






l 9 


Bifhops before tbe Parliament, 






22 


Bifhops in the Parliament, . 






2 3 


Bifhops out of the Parliament, 






27 


Books, Authors, 






3° 


Cannon Law, Ceremony, 






3 1 


Chancellor, Changing Sides, 






32 


Chriftmas, Chriftians, 






33 


Church, .... 






34 


Church of Rome, Churches, 






35 


City, Clergy, 






36 


High Commiffion, Houfe of Commons, 






37 


Confeffion, Competency, 






3* 


Great Conjunction, Confcience, 






• 39 


Confecrated Places, Contracts, 






. 40 


Council, Convocation, 






4 1 


Creed, Damnation, 






42 


Devils, ..... 






43 


Self-Denyal, 






44 


Duell, .... 






45 


Epitaph, Equity, 






46 


Evil- Speaking, Excommunication, . 






47 


Faith and Works, Falling-days, 






48 


Fathers and Sons, Fines, Free-will, 






5° 


Fryers, Friends, Genealogy of Chrill, 






51 


Gentlemen, Gold, . 






5 2 


Hall, Hell, 






• 53 


Holy-days, Humility, Idolatry, Jews, 






54 


Invincible Ignorance, Images, 






55 


Imperial Conftitutions, Imprifonment, Incendiaries, 




56 


Independency, Things Indifferent, Publick Interefl 




57 


Humane Invention, Judgements, 




58 


Judge, Juggling, Jurifdiclion, 






59 


Jus Divinum, King, 






60 


King of England, . 






61 


Tbe King .... 






62 



THE TABLE. 



Knights-Service, Land, Language, 

Law, ..... 

Law of Xature, Learning, . 

Lecturers, Libels, .... 

Liturgy, Lords in the Parliament, . 

Lords before the Parliament, Marriage, 

Marriage of Coufm- Germans, Meafure of Things, 

Difference of Men, Minifter Divine, 

Money, ..... 

Moral Honefty, Mortgage, Xumber, 

Oaths, . 

Oracles, Opinion, .... 

Parity, Parliament, 

Parfon, Patience, Peace, 

Penance, People, Pleasure. 

Philofophy, . . 

Poetry, ..... 

Pope,' ..... 

Popery, Power, State, 

Prayer, .... 

Preaching, ..... 

Predeftination, .... 

Preferment, .... 

Praemunire, Prerogative, 

Presbytery. .... 

Priefts of Rome. Prophecies, 

Proverbs, Queftion, Reafon, 

Retaliation, Reverence, Xon-Rehdency, 

Religion, ..... 

Sabboth, Sacrament, 

Salvation, State, Superftition, 

Subfidies, Simony, Ship-Money, Synod, Affeniblv, 

Thankfgiving, Tythes, 

Trade, 

Tradition, Tranfubftantiation, Traitor, Trinity, 

Truth, Trial, 

Lniverfity, Vows, . 

Ufury, Pious UfeSj War, 

Witches, 

Wife, Wifedom, 

Wit, Women, 

Year, . . 

Zelots, 



6 4 
6; 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 
7i 
75 
76 

77 
79 
80 
82 

83 
84 
85 
86 
88 
90 
9i 
95 
96 

97 
98 
99 
100 
101 
102 
105 
106 
107 
109 
no 
III 

112 

"3 

114 

116 

117 
11S 
119 
120 



To the Honourable 

Mr. Juftice Hales,* 

One of the JUDGES 

OF THE 

Common-Pleas ; 

And to the much Honoured 

EDWARD* HEYWOOD* IOHN 
VAUGHAN and ROWLAND 
JEWKS, Efquires. 

Moft worthy Gentlemen, 

W Ere you not Executors to that Per f on, who 
{ivhile he liv'd) was the Glory of the Na- 
tion; yet J am Confident any thing of his 
would find Accept arice with you, and truly the Senfe and 
Notion here is wholy his, and mofl of the words. I had 
the opportunity to hear his Difcourfe twenty Years together, 
and leafil all thofe Excellent things that ufually fell from 
him might be lofl, fome of them from time to time I faith- 
fully committed to Writing, where here digefled into this 
Method, I humbly prefent to your Hands; you will quickly 
perceive them to be his by the familiar Illuflrations where- 
with they are fet off, and in which way you know he was 
fo happy, that (with a marvelous delight to thofe that 
heard him) he would prefently convey the highefl Points of 
Religion, and the mofl important Affairs of State to ait 
ordinary apprehenfion. 

In reading be pleas' d to diflinguifh Times, and in your 
Fancy carry along with you, the When and the Why, 
many of thefe things were spoken; this will give them 
the more Life, and the fmarter Relifh. 'Tis poffible the 
Entertainment you find in them, may render you the more 
inclinable to pardon the Prefumption of 

Your moft Obliged and 

moft Humble Servant, 

RI : MIL WARD. 

* Misprints for Mr. Justice Hale and Edward Heyward : see p. *]■ 



THE 



DISCOURSES 



OF 



John Selden, Efq ; 



i. r I ^HE unwillingnefs of the Monks to part with 
their Land, will fall out to be juft nothing, 
-*- becaufe they were yielded up to the King 
by a Supream Hand (viz.) a Parliament. If a King 
conquer another Country, the People are loth to 
loofe their Lands, yet no Divine will deny, but the 
King may give them to whom he pleafe. If a Parlia- 
ment make a Law concerning Leather, or any other 
Commodity, you and I for Example are Parliament 
Men, perhaps in refpecl; to our own private Interefls, 
we are againft it, yet the Major part conclude it, we 
are then involv'd and the Law is good. 

2. When the Founder of Abbies laid a Curfe upon 
thofe that ihould take away thofe Lands, I would fain 
know what Power they had to curfe me ; 'Tis not the 
Curfes that come from' the Poor, or from any body, 
that hurt me, becaufe they come from them, but 
becaufe I do fomething ill againft them that deferves 
God mould curfe me for it. On the other fide 'tis not 
a man's Blefling me that makes me bleffed, he only 
declares me to be fo, and if I do well I mail be 
bleffed, whether any blefs me or not. 

3. At the time of Diffolution, they were tender in 
taking from the Abbots and Priors their Lands and 
their Houfes, till they furrendred them (as moil of 

B 



1 3 TABLE-TALK. 

them did) indeed the Prior of St. John's, Sir Richard 
Weflon, being a flout Man, got into France, and flood 
out a whole year, at lafl fubmitted, and the King took 
in that Priory alfo, to which the Temple belonged, 
and many other Houfes in England, they did not then 
cry no Abbots, no Priors, as we do now no Bifhops, 
no Bifhops. 

4. Hem-y the Fifth put away the Friars, Aliens, and 
feiz'd to himfelf 100000/. a year, and therefore they were 
not the Proteftants only that took away Church Lands. 

5. In Queen Elizabeths time, when all the Abbies 
were pulled down, all good Works defaced, then the 
Preachers mufl cry up Juflineation by Faith, not by 
good Works. 

grttcleg. 
1. r I ^ HE nine and thirty Articles are much another 
thing in Latin, (in which Tongue they were 
-*- made) then they are tranflated into Englifh, 
they were made at three feveral Convocations, and 
confirmed by Act of Parliament fix or seven times 
after. There is a Secret concerning them : Of late 
Miniflers have fubfcribed to all of them, but by A 61 
of Parliament that confirm'd them, they ought only 
to fubfcribe to thofe Articles which contain matter of 
Faith, and the Doclrine of the Sacraments, as appears by 
the firfl Subfcriptions. But Bifhop Bancroft (in the Con- 
vocation held in King James's days) he began it, that 
Miniflers mould fubfcribe to three things, to the Kings 
Supremacy, to the Common-prayer, and to the Thirty 
nine Articles ; many of them do not contain matter of 
Faith. Is it matter of Faith how the Church mould 
be govern'd ? Whether Infants fhould be Baptized ? 
Whether we have any Property in our Goods ? &>c. 

23aptt^m. 
1. ,r> I ^Was a good way to perfwade men to be 
chriftned, to tell them that they had a Foul- 
-*- nefs about them, viz. Original Sin, that could 
not be warned away but by Baptifm. 

2, The Baptizing of Children with us, does only 



TABLE-TALK. 19 

prepare a Child againft he comes to be a Man, to 
underftand what Chriftianity means. In the Church 
oiRome it hath this effect, it frees Children from Hell. 
They fay they go into Linibus Infantum. It fucceeds 
Circumcifion, and we are fure the Child underftood 
nothing of that at eight days old ; why then may not 
we as reafonably baptife a Child at that Age ? in 
England of late years I ever thought the Parfon 
baptiz'd his own Fingers rather than the Child. 

3. In the Primitive times they had God-fathers to 
fee the Children brought up in the Chriftian Religion, 
becaufe many times, when the Father was a Chriftian, 
the Mother was not, and fometimes when the Mother 
was a Chriftian, the Father was not, and therefore 
they made choice of two or more that were Chriflians, 
to fee their Children brought up in that Faith. 

25a£tartr. 

1. "HP* IS faid the 23d. of Deuteron. 2. [A Baftard 
Jliall not enter into the Congregation of the 
-*- Lord, even to the tenth Generation^ N011 
ingredietur in Ecclefiam Domini, he fhall not enter into 
the Church. The meaning of the Phrafe is, he fhall 
not marry a Jewifh Woman. But upon this grofly 
miftaken ; a Baftard at this day in the Church of 
Rome, without a Difpenfation, cannot take Orders ; 
the thing haply well enough, where 'tis fo fetled; but 
'tis upon a Miftake (the Place having no reference to 
the Church) appears plainly by what follows at the 
third Verfe [An Ammonite or Moabiie fliail not enter 
into the Congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth 
Generation.'] Now you know with the Jews an Am- 
monite, or a Moabite could never be a Prieft, becaufe 
their Priefls were born fo, not made. 

33 tile, £rri£tttre. 

1. " |[ MS a great queftion how we know Scripture 

to be Scripture, whether by the Church, or 

"*- by Mans private Spirit. Let me ask you 

how I know any thing ? how I know this Carpet to be 

Green ? Firft, becaufe fomebody told me it was 



2c TABLE-TALK. 

Green ; that you call the Church in your Way, Then 
after I have been told it is green, when I fee that 
Colour again, I know it to be Green, my own Eyes tell 
me it is Green, that you call the private Spirit. 

2. The Englifh Tranflation of the Bible, is the beft 
Tranflation in the World, and renders the Senfe of the 
Original beft, taking in for the Engliih Tranflation, the 
Bifhops Bible, as well as King James's. The Tranfla- 
tion in K.ing James's time took an excellent way. Tfiat 
part of the Bible was given to him who was moll 
excellent in fuch a Tongue (as the Apochrypha to 
Andrew Downs) and then they met together, and one 
read the Tranflation, the reft holding in their Hands 
fome Bible, either of the learned Tongues, or French, 
Spa7iijh, Italian, &c. if they found any Fault they 
fpoke, if not, he read on. 

3. There is no Book fo tranflated as the Bible for 
the purpofe. If I tranflate a French Book into Englijh, 
I turn it into Englijh Phrafe, not into French Englijh 
\_Il Jait Jroid] I fay 'tis cold, not, it makes cold, but 
the Bible is rather tranflated into Englijh Words, than 
into Englijh Phrafe. The Hebraifms are kept, and 
the Phrafe of that Language is kept: As for Example 
[he uncovered her Shame] which is well enough, fo 
long as Scholars have to do with it ; but when it comes 
among the Common People, Lord, what Gear do they 
make of it ! 

4. Scrutamini Scriphtras. Thefe two Words have 
undone the World, becaufe Chrift fpake it to his 
Difciples, therefore we muft all, Men, Women and 
Children, read and interpret the Scripture. 

5. Henry the Eighth made a Law, that all Men 
might read the Scripture, except Servants, but no 
Woman, except Ladies and Gentlewomen, who had 
Leifure, and might ask fomebody the meaning. The 
Law was repealed in Edward the Sixth's days. 

6. Lay-men have beft interpreted the hard places in 
the Bible, fuch as Johannes Picus, Scaliger, Grotins, 
Salmanjlus, Heinfuis, &c. 

7. If you ask which of Erajmus, Eeza, or Grotius 



TABLE-TALK. 21 

did befl upon the New Teflament, 'tis an Idle queilion, 
for they all did well in their way. Erafmus broke 
down the firft Brick, Beza added many things, and 
Grotius added much to him, in whom we have either 
fomething new, or fomething heightned, that was faid 
before, and fo 'twas neceffary to have them all three. 

8. The Text ferves only to guefs by, we muft fatisfie 
our felves fully out of the Authors that liv'd about 
thofe times. 

9. In interpreting the Scripture, many do, as if a 
man mould fee one have ten pounds, which he 
reckoned by 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. meaning four, 
was but four Unities, and five, five Unities, &>c. and 
that he had in all but ten pounds ; the other that fees 
him, takes not the Figures together as he doth, but 
picks here and there, and thereupon reports, that he 
hath five pounds in one Bag, and fix pounds in 
another Bag, and nine pounds in another Bag, &v. 
when as in truth he hath but ten pounds in all. So 
we pick out a Text here, and there to make it serve 
our turn ; whereas, if we take it all together, and 
confider'd what went before, and what followed after, 
we mould find it meant no fuch thing. 

10. Make no more Allegories in Scripture than 
needs mull, the Fathers were too frequent in them, 
they indeed, before they fully underftood the litteral 
Sence, look'd out for an Allegory. The Folly whereof 
you may conceive thus ; here at the firft fight appears 
to me in my Window, a Glafs and a Book, I take it for 
granted 'tis a Glafs and a Book, thereupon I go about 
to tell you what they fignifie ; afterwards, upon nearer 
view, they prove no fuch thing, one is a Box made 
like a Book, the other is a Picture made like a Glafs, 
where's now my Allegory ? 

11. When Men meddle with the Litteral Text, the 
queilion is, where they mould flop ; in this cafe a 
Man might venture his Difcretion, and do his befl to 
fatisfie himfelf and others in thofe places where he 
doubts, for although we call the Scripture the Word of 
God (as it is) yet it was writ by a Man, a mercenary 



22 TABLE-TALK. 

Man, whofe Copy, either might be falfe, or he might 
make it falfe : For Example, here were a thoufand 
Bibles printed in England with the Text thus, [Thou 
JJialt coftimit Adultery'] the Word [not] left out ; might 
not this Text be mended ? 

12. The Scripture may have more Senfes befides 
the Literal, becaufe God underftands all things at 
once, but a Mans Writing has but one true Sence, 
which is that which the Author meant when he writ it. 

13. When you meet with feveral Readings of the 
Text, take heed you admit nothing againft the Tenets 
of your Church, but do as if you were going over a 
Bridge, be fure you hold fafl by the Rail, and then 
you may dance here and there as you pleafe, be fure 
you keep to what is fetled, and then you may flourifh 
upon your various Lections. 

14. The Apochrypha is bound with the Bibles of all 
Churches that have been hitherto. Why fhould we 
leave it out? the Church of Rome has her Apochrypha 
(viz.) Sufanna and Bell and the Dragon, which she 
does not efleem equally with the reft of thofe Books 
that we call Apochrypha. 

SStefjop* bttaxz tfje parliament. 

1. \ Bifhop as a Bifhop, had never any Eccle- 
/-\ fiaftial Jurifdiction ; for as foon as he was 
■*■ -*- Eleclus Confirmatus, that is, after the three 
Proclamations in Bow-Church, he might exercife 
Jurifdiction, before he was confecrated, not till then, 
he was no Bifhop, neither could he give Orders. 
Befides, Suffragans were Bifhops, and they never 
claim'd any Jurifdiction. 

2. Antiently, the Noble Men lay within the City 
for Safety and Security. The Bifhops Houfes were by 
the Water-fide, becaufe they were held Sacred Perfons 
which no body would hurt. 

3. There was fome Sence for Commendams at firft, 
when there was a Living void, and never a Clerk to ferve 
it, the Bifhops was to keep it till they found a fit Man, 
but now 'tis a Trick for the Bifhop to keep it for himfelf. 



TABLE-TALK. 23 

4. For a Bifliop to preach, 'tis to do other Folks 
Office, as if the Steward of the Houfe fhould execute 
the Porters or the Cooks place ; 'tis his Bufmefs to fee 
that they and all other about the Houfe perform their 
Duties. 

5. That which is thought to have done the Bifhops 
hurt, is their going about to bring men to a blind 
Obedience, impcfing things upon them [though perhaps 
fmall and well enough] without preparing them, and 
infmuating into their Reafons and Fancies, every man 
loves to know his Commander. I wear thofe Gloves, 
but perhaps if an Alderman fhould command me, I 
mould think much to do it ; what has he to do with 
me ? Or if he has, peradventure I do not know it. 
This jumping upon things at firfl dafh will deflroy all; 
';o keep up Friendfhip, there muft be little Addreffes 
and Applications, whereas Bluntnefs fpoils it quickly: 
To keep up the Hierarchy, there muft be little Appli- 
cations made to men, they muft be brought on by little 
and little : So in the Primitive times the Power was 
gain'd, and fo it muft be continued. Scaliger faid of 
Erafmus : Si minor effe voluit, major fuiffet. So we 
may fay of the Bifhops, Si minores ejfe volnerint 
7najores fuiffent. 

6. The Bifhops were too hafty, elfe with a difcreet 
slownefs they might have had what they aim'd at: 
The old Story of the Fellow, that told the Gentleman, 
that he might get to fuch a place, if he did not ride too 
faft, would have fitted their turn. 

7. For a Bifhop to cite an old Cannon to ftrengthen 
his new Articles, is as if a Lawyer fhould plead an old 
Statute that has been repeal'd God knows how long. 

%{i\)Q#£ tit rl)£ parliament. 

1 . T^ Ifhopshave the same Right to fit in Parliament 
r^ as the belt Earls and Barons, that is, thofe 
-^— ' that were made by Writ : If you ask one of 
them {Arundel^ Oxford, Northumberland why they 
fit in the Houfe ? they can only fay, their Fathers fate 
there before them, and their Grand-father before him, 



24 TABLE-TALK. 

&c. And fo fays the Bifhops, he that was a Bifhop of 
this Place before me, fate in the Houfe, and he that 
was a Bifhop before him, &>c. Indeed your later Earls 
and Barons have it expreffed in their Patents, that 
they fhall be called to Parliament. Objection, But the 
Lords fit there by Blood, the Bifhops not. A?ifwer, 
Tis true, they fit not there both the fame way, yet 
that takes not away the Bifhops Right : If I am a 
Parfon of a Parifh, I have as much Right to my Gleab 
and Tyth,- as you have to your Land which your 
Anceflors have "had in that Parifh eight hundred years. 

2. The Bifhops were not Barons, becaufe they had 
Baronies annext to their Bifhopricks (for few of them 
had fo, unlefs the old ones, Canterbury, Winchejler, 
Durham, &c. the new erected we are fure had none, 
as Glocejler, Peterborough, &c, befides, few of the 
Temporal Lords had any Baronies.) But they are 
Barons, becaufe they are called by Writ to the Parlia- 
ment, and Bifhops were in the Parliament ever fince 
there was any mention or fign of a Parliament in 
England. 

3. Bifhops may be judged by the Peers, though in 
time of Popery it never hapned, becaufe they pre- 
tended they were not obnoxious to a Secular Court, 
but their way was to cry, Ego fum Frater Domini 
Papce, I am Brother to my Lord the Pope, and there- 
fore take not my felf to be judged by you ; in this Cafe 
they impanelled a Middlesex Jury, and difpatcht the 
Bufmefs. 

4. Whether may Bifhops be prefent in cafes of 
Blood? Anfw. That they had a Right to give Votes, 
appears by this, always when they did go out, they left 
a Proxy, and in the time of the Abbots, one man had 
10. 20. or 30. Voices. In Richard the Seconds time, 
there was a Proteflation againfl the Canons, by which 
they were forbidden to be prefent in cafe of Blood. 
The Statute of 25th of Henry the Eighth may go a 
great way in this Bufmefs. The Clergy were forbidden 
to ufe or cite any Cannon, &c. but in the latter end of 
the Statute, there was a Claufe, that fuch Cannons 



TABLE-TALK. 25 

that were in ufage in this Kingdom, fhould be in force 
till the thirty two Commiffioners appointed ihould 
make others, provided they were not contrary to the 
Kings Supremacy. Now the Queftion will be, whether 
thefe Cannons for Blood were in life in this Kingdom 
or no? the contrary whereof may appear by many 
Prefidents, in E. 3. and H. 7. and the beginning of 
H. 8. in which time there were more attainted than 
fince, or fcarce before: The Cannons of Irregularity 
of Blood were never received in England, but upon 
pleafure. If a Lay Lord was attainted, the Bifhops 
affented to his Condemning, and were always prefent 
at the pafling of the Bill of Attainder : But if a Spiritual 
Lord, they went out as if they cared not whofe Head 
was cut off, fo none of their own. In thofe days the 
Bifhops being of great Houfes, were often entangled 
with the Lords in Matters of Treafon. But when d'ye 
hear of a Bifhop a Tray tor now ? ■ 

5. You would not have Bifhops meddle with Tem- 
poral Affairs, think who you are that fay it. If*a 
Papift, they do in your Church ; if an EngliJIi Protefl- 
ant, they do among you ; if a Presbiterian, where you 
have no Bifhops, you mean your Presbiterian Lay 
Elders fhould meddle with Temporal Affairs as well 
as Spiritual. Befides, all Jurifdiction is Temporal, 
and in no Church, but they have fome Jurifdiction or 
other. The Queftion then will be reduced to Magis 
and Minis ; they meddle more in one Church than in 
another. 

6. Objection. Bifhops give not their Votes by Blood 
in Parliament, but by an Office annext to them, which 
being taken away, they ceafe to vote, therefore there 
is not the fame reafon for them as for Temporal Lords. 
Anfw. We do not pretend they have that Power the 
fame way, but they have a Right : He that has an 
Office in Wejlminjler-Hall for his Life, the Office is as 
much his, as his Land is his that hath Land by 
Inheritance. 

7. Whether had the inferior Clergy ever any thing 
to do in the Parliament ? Anfw. No, no otherwife 



26 TABLE-TALK. 

than thus, There were certain of the Clergy that ufed 
toaffemble near the Parliament, with whom the Bifhops, 
upon occafion might confult (but there were none of 
the Convocation, as 'twas afterwards fetled, (viz.) the 
Dean, the Arch-Deacon, one for the Chapter, and two 
for the Diocefs) but it hapned by continuance of time 
(to fave Charges and Trouble) their Voices and the 
Confent of the whole Clergy were involved in the 
Bifhops, and at this day the Bifhops Writs run, to bring 
all thefe to the Parliament, but the Bifhops themfelves 
ftand for all. 

8. Bifhops were formerly one of thefe two Condi- 
tions, either Men bred Canonifls and Civilians, fent 
up and down Ambaffadors to Rome and other Parts, 
and fo by their Merit came to that Greatnefs, or elfe 
great Noble Mens Sons, Brothers, and Nephews, 
and fo born to govern the State : Now they are of a 
low Condition, their Education nothing of that way ; 
he gets a Living, and then a greater Living, and then 
a greater then that, and fo comes to govern. 

9. Bifhops are now unfit to Govern becaufe of their 
Learning, they are bred up in another Law, they run 
to the Text forfomething done amongft the Jews that 
nothing concerns Rng/and, 'tis juft as if a Man would 
have a Kettle and he would not go to our Brazier to 
have it made ; as they make Kettles, but he would have 
it made as Hiram made his Brafs work, who wrought 
in Solomons Temple. 

10. To take away Bifhops Votes, is but the begin- 
ning to take them away; for then they can be no 
longer ufeful to the King or State. 'Tis but like the 
little Wimble, to let in the greater Auger. Objection. 
But they are but for their Life, and that makes them 
always go for the King as he will have them. Anfwer. 
This is againft a double Charity, for you muft always 
fuppofe a bad King and bad Bifhops. Then again, 
whether will a Man be fooner content, himfelf fhould 
be made a Slave or his Son after him? [when we talk of 
our Children we mean our felves,] befides they that 
have poflerity are more obliged to the King, then 



TABLE-TALK. 27 

they that are only for themfelves, in all the reafon in 
the World. 

11. How (hall the Clergy be in the Parliament if 
the Bilhops are taken away ? Anfwer. By the Layety, 
becaufe the Bilhops in whom the reft of the Clergy 
are included, are fent to the taking away their own 
Votes, by being involv'd in the major part of the 
Houfe. This follows naturally. 

12. The Bilhops being put out of the Houfe, whom 
will they lay the fault upon now ? When the Dog is 
beat out of the Room, where will they lay the ftink ? 

33tef)0j)£ out flf tije Parliament. 

1. TN the beginning Bilhops and Presbyters were 
alike, like the Gentlemen in the Country, 
-*- whereof one is made Deputy Livetenant, an- 
other Juftice of Peace, fo one is made a Bifhop, an- 
other a Dean ; and that kind of Government by Arch- 
Bifhops, and Bilhops no doubt came in, in imitation 
of the Temporal Government, not Jure Divino. In 
time of the Roma?i Empire, where they had a Legatus, 
there they placed an Arch-Bifhop, where they had a 
Rector there a Bifhop, that every one might be in- 
ftrucled in Chriftianity, which now they had received 
into the Empire. 

2. They that fpeak ingenioufly of Bilhops and Pres- 
byters, fay, that a Bifhop is a great Presbyter, and 
during the time of his being Bifhop, above a Prefbyter: as 
your Prefident of the Colledge of Phifitians, is above the 
reft, yet he himfelf is no more than a Doctor of Phyfick. 

3. The words [Bifhop and Presbyter] are promis- 
cuoully ufed, that is confeffed by all, and though the 
word [Bifhop] be in Timothy and Titus , yet that will 
not prove the Bifhops ought to have a Jurifdiction 
over the Presbyter, though Timothy and Titus had by 
the order that was given them : fome Body muft take 
care of the reft, and that Jurifdiclion was but to Ex- 
communicate, and that was but to tell them they fhould 
come no more into their Company. Or grant they 
did make Canons one for another, before they came to 



23 TABLE-TALK. 

be in the State, does it follow they muft do fo when 
the State has receiv'd them into it ? What if Timothy 
had Power in Ephefus, and Titus in Creet over the 
Presbyters} Does it follow therefore the Bifhop muft 
have the fame in England} Muft we be govern'd 
like Ephefus and Creet ? 

4. However fome of the Bifhops pretend to be Jure 
Divino, yet the Practice of the Kingdom had ever 
been otherwife, for whatever Bifhops do otherwife 
then the Law permits, Wejiminjier-Hall can controul, 
or fend them to abfolve, 6°<r. 

5. »He that goes about to prove Bifhops Jure Divino, 
does as a Man that having a Sword fhall ftrike it 
againft an Anvil, if he ftrike it a while there, he may 
peradventure loofen it, though it be never fo well 
riveted, 'twill ferve to ftrike another Sword (or cut 
Flefh) but not againft an Anvil. 

6. If you fhould fay you hold your Land by Mofes 
or Gods Law, and would try it by that, you may per- 
haps loofe, but by the Law of the Kingdom you are 
fure of it, fo may the Bifhops by this Plea of Jure 
Divino loofe all ; The Pope had as good a Title by 
the Law of England as could be had, had he not left 
that, and claim'd by Power from God. 

7. There is no Government enjoyn'd by Example, 
but by Precept ; it does not follow we muft have 
Bifhops ftill, becaufe we have had them fo long. They 
are equally mad who fay Bifhops are fo Jure Divino 
that they muft be continued, and they who fay they 
are fo Antichriftian, that they muft be put away, all is 
as the State pleafes. 

8. To have no Minifters, but Presbyters, 'tis as in 
the Temporal ftate they fhould have no Officers but 
Conftables. Bifhops do beft ftand with Monarchy, 
thus as amongft the Laity, you have Dukes, Lords, 
Lieutenants, Judges, &>e. to fend down the Kings 
pleafure to his Subjects j So you have Bifhops to 
govern the inferiour Clergy : Thefe upon occafion may 
addrefs themfelves to the King, otherwife every Parfon 
of the Parifh muft come, and run up to the Court. 



TABLE-TALK. ?*) 

9. The Proteftants have no Bifhops in France, 
becaufe they live in a Catholic Country, and they will 
not have Catholic Bifhops ; therefore they mufl govern 
themfelves as well as they may. 

10. What is that to the purpofe, to what end 
Bifhops Lands were given to them at firfl? you 
muft look to the Law and Cuftom of the place. What 
is that to any Temporal Lords Eftate, how Lands 
were firfl divided, or how in William the Conquerours 
days ? And if Men at firfl were juggled out of their 
Eftates, yet they are rightly their Succeffours. If my 
Father cheat a Man, and he confent to it, the Inherit- 
ance is rightly mine. 

n. If there be no Bifhops, there mufl be some- 
thing elfe, which has the Power of Bifhops, though it 
be in many, and then had you not as good keep 
them ? If you will have no Half Crowns, but only 
fingle Pence, yet Thirty single Pence are a Half- 
Crown ; and then had you not as good keep both ? 
But the Bifhops have done ill, 'twas the Men, not the 
Function ; As if you fhould fay, you would have no 
more Half Crowns, becaufe they were ftolen, when 
the truth is they were not flolen becaufe they were 
Half-Crowns, but becaufe they were Money and light 
in a Thieves hand. 

12. They that would pull down the Bifhops and 
erecl a new way of Government, do as he that pulls 
down an old Houfe, and builds another, in another 
fafhion, there's a great deal of do, and a great deal of 
trouble, the old rubbifh muft be carryed away, and 
new materials mufl be brought, Workmen muft be 
provided, and perhaps the old one would have ferv'd 
as well. 

13. If the Parliament and Presbyterian Party mould 
difpute who fhould be Judge ? Indeed in the begin- 
ning of Queen Elizabeth, there was fuch a difference, 
between the Proteflants and Papijls, and Sir Nicholas 
Bacon Lord Chancellor was appointed to be Judge, 
but the Conclufion was the flronger Party carryed it : 
For fo Religion was brought into Kingdoms, fo it has 



30 TABLE-TALK. 

been continued, and fo it may be call out, when the 
State pleafes. 

14. 'Twill be a great difcouragement to Scholars 
that BiJIiops mould be put down : For now the Father 
can fay to his Son, and the Tutor to his Pupil, Study 
hard, andyoujhall have Vocem et Sedem i?i Parliamento ; 
then it mud be, Study hard, and you Jhall have a hundred 
a year if you pleafe your Parijh. Obj. But they that 
enter into the Miniftry for preferment, are like Judas 
that lookt after the Bag. Anf. It may be fo, if they 
turn Scholars at Judas' 's Age, but what Arguments will 
they ufe to perfwade them to follow their Books while 
they are young ? 

230B&J, gutter**. 

1. 'HP* HE giving a Bookfelkr his price for his Books 
has this advantage, he that will do fo, fhall 
-** have the refufal of whatfoever comes to his 
hand, and fo by that means get many things, which 
othervvife he never mould have feen. So 'tis in giving 
a Bawd her price. 

2. In buying Books or other Commodities, 'tis not 
always the befl way to bid half fo much as the feller 
asks : witnefs the Country fellow that went to buy two 
groat Shillings, they askt him three Shillings, and he bid 
them Eighteen Pence. 

3. They counted the price of the Books (Afts 19. 
19.) and found Fifty Thoufand pieces of Silver, that is 
fo many Sextertii, or fo many three half pence of our 
Money, about Three Hundred pound Sterling. 

4. Popifh Books teach and inform, what we know, 
we know much out of them. The Fathers, Church 
Story, Schoolmen, all may pafs for Popifh Books, and 
if you take away them, what Learning will you leave ? 
Befides who muft be Judge? The Cuftopier or the 
Waiter ? If he difallows a Book it muft not be brought 
into the Kingdom, then Lord have mercy upon all 
Schollars. Thefe Puritan Preachers if they have any 
things good, they have it out of Popifh Books, though 
they will not acknowledgfe] it, for fear of difpleafing 



TABLE-TALK. 31 

the people, he is a poor Divine that cannot fever the 
good from the bad. 

5. 'Tis good to have Tranflations, becaufe they 
ferve as a Comment, fo far as the Judgement of the 
Man goes. 

6. In Anfwering a Book, 'tis beft to be fhort, other- 
wife he that I write againft will fufpect I intend to 
weary him, not to fatisfy him Befides in being long I 
(hall give my Adverfary a huge advantage, fomewhere 
or other he will pick a hole. 

7. In quoting of Books, quote fuch Authors as are 
ufually read, others you may read for your own Satis- 
faction, but not name them. 

8. Quoting of Authors is moll for matter of Fact, 
and then I write them as I would produce a Witnefs, 
fometimes for a free Expreffion, and then I give the 
Author his due, and gain my felfpraife by reading him. 

9. To quote a modern Dutch Man where I may ufe 
a Claffic Author, is as if I were to j unify my Reputa- 
tion, and I neglect all Perfons of Note and Quality 
that know me, and bring the Ted imonial of the Scullion 
in the Kitchen. 

Cannon Eafo. 

IF I would ftudy the Cannon-Law as it is ufed in 
En^lcifid, I mull ftudy the Heads here in ufe, 
then go to the Practicers in thofe Courts where 
that Law is practifed, and know their Cuftoms, fo for 
all the ftudy in the World. 

Ceranonp. 

1. S * Eremony keeps up all things; 'Tis like a 
I Penny-Glafs to a rich Spirit, or fome Ex- 

^ — ' cellent Water, without it the water were 
fpilt, the Spirit loft. 

2. Of all people Ladies have no reafon to cry down 
Ceremonies, for they take themfelves flighted without 
it. And were they not ufed with Ceremony, with 
Complements and Addreffes, with Legs, and Kiffing 
of Hands, they were the pittyfulleft Creatures in the 
World, but yet methinks to kifs their Hands after their 



3 2 TABLE-TALK. 

Lips as fome do, is like little Boys, that after they eat 
the Apple, fall to the paring, out of a Love they have 
to the Apple. 

Chancellor. 

i. npHE Bifhop is not to fit with the Chancellor 

I in his Court (as being a thing either beneath 

-*" him, or befide him) no more then the King 

is to fit in the Kings-Bench when he has made a Lord- 

Chief-Juftice. 

2. The Chancellor govern'd in the Church, who was 
a Layman. And therefore 'tis falfe which they charge 
the Bifhops with, that they Challenge fole Jurisdiction. 
For the Bifhop can no more put out the Chancellor 
than the Chancellor the Bifhop. They were many of 
them made Chancellors for their Lives, and he is the 
fitteft Man to Govern, becaufe Divinity fo overwhelms 
the reft. 

Cfjattfltitfl £ttfe£. 

1. "T^IS the Tryal of a Man to fee if he will 
Change his fide, and if he be fo weak as to 
-*• Change, once, he will Change again. Your 
Country Fellows have a way to try if a Man be weak 
in the Hams, by coming behind him, and giving him 
a blow unawares, if he bend once, he will bend again. 

2. The Lords that fall from the King after they have 
got Eftates, by bafe Flattery at Court, and now pre- 
tend Confcience, do as a Vintner, that when he firfl 
fets up, you may bring your Wench to his Houfe, and 
do your things there, but when he grows Rich, he 
turns Confcientious, and will fell no Wine upon the 
Sabbath-day. 

3. Collonel Goring ferving firfl the one fide and 
then the other, did like a good Miller that knows how 
to grind which way foever the Wind fits. 

4. After Luther had made a Combuflion in Germany 
about Religion, he was fent to by the Pope, to be taken 
off, and offer'd any preferment in the Church, that he 
would make choice of, Luther anfwer'd, if he had 
offered half as much at firft, he would have accepted 



TABLE-TALK. 33 

it, but now he had gone fo far, he could not come 
back, in Truth he had made himfelf a greater thing 
than they could make him, the German Princes Courted 
him, he was become the Authour of a Seel ever after 
to be called Luthercms. So have our Preachers done 
that are againft the Bifhops, they have made them- 
felves greater with the People, than they can be made . 
the other way, and therefore there is the lefs Charity 
probably in bringing them of. Charity to Strangers 
is injoyned in the Text, by Strangers is there under- 
flood thofe that are not of our own kin, Strangers to 
your Blood, not thofe you cannot tell whence they 
came, that is be Charitable to your Neighbours whom 
you know to be honeft poor People. 

CJ)rigtma£. 

1. y*"~** Hrijlmas succeeds the Saturnalia, the fame 
I time, the fame number of Holy days, then 

^— ^ the Mafter waited upon the Servant like 
the Lord of Mifrule. 

2. Our Meats and our Sports (much of them) have 
relation to Church-works. The Coffin of our Chriflmas 
Pies in fhape long, is in imitation of the Cratch, our 
Choofmg Kings and Queens on Twelfth night, hath 
reference to the Three Kings. So likewife our eating 
of Fritters, whipping of Tops, Roafting of Herrings, 
Jack of Lents, ore. they were all in imitation of Church- 
works, Emblems of Martyrdom. Our Tanfies at 
Eafler have reference to the bitter Herbs : though 
at the fame time 'twas always the Fafhion for a Man 
to have a Gammon of Bakon, to fhow himfelf to be 
no Jew. 

Cljrts'ttatri. 

1. T N the High Church of Jernfalem, the Chriftians 
were but another Seel of 'Jews, that did believe 
-*- the Meffias was come. To be called was 
nothing elfe, but to become a Chriftian, to have the 
Name of a Chriftian, it being their own Language, for 
amongft the Jews, when they made a Doctor of Law, 
'twas faid he was called. 



34 TABLE-TALK. 

2. The Turks tell their People of a Heaven where 
there is fenfible Pleafure, but of a Hell where they 
(hall fuffer they do not know what. The Chriftians 
quite invert this order, they tell us of a Hell where 
we fhall feel fenfible Pain, but of a Heaven where we 
fhall enjoy we cannot tell what. 

3. Why did the Heathens object to the Chriftians, 
that they Worfhip an Affes Head ? you muft know, 
that to a Heathen, a Jew and a Chriftian were all 
one, that they regarded him not, fo he was not one of 
them. Now that of the Affes Head might proceed 
from fuch a miftake as this, by the Jews Law all the 
Firftlings of Cattle were to be offered to God, except 
a Young Afs, which was to be redeem'd, a Heathen 
being prefent, and feeing young Calves, and young 
Lambs killed at their Sacrifices, only young Affes 
redeem'd might very well think they had that filly 
Beaft in fome high Eflimation, and thence might 
imagine they worfhipt it as a God. 

Cf)urtf). 

1 . T T Eretofore the Kingdom let the Church alone, 
I I let them do what they would, becaufe they 
•*■ •*- had fomething elfe to think of (viz.) Wars, 
but now in time of peace, we begin to examine all 
things, will have nothing but what Ave like, grow dainty 
and wanton, jufl as in a Family the Heir ufes to go a 
hunting, he never confiders how his Meal is drefl, 
takes a bit, and away, but when he flays within, then 
he grows curious, he does not like this, nor he does 
not like that, he will have his Meat dreft his own way, 
or peradventure he will drefs it himfelf. 

2. It hath ever been the gain of the Church when 
the King will let the Church have no Power to cry 
down the King and cry up the Church : but when the 
Church can make ufe of the Kings Power, then to 
bring all under the Kings Perogative, the Catholicks 
of England go one way, and the Court Clergy another. 

3. A glorious Church is like a Magnificent Feaft 
there is all the variety that may be, but every one 



TABLE-TALK. 35 

choofes out a dim or two that he likes, and lets the 
reft alone, how Glorious foever the Church is, every 
one choofes out of it his own Religion, by which he 
governs himfelf and lets the reft alone. 

4. The Laws of the Church are moft Favourable 
to the Church, becaufe they were the Churches own 
making, as the Heralds are the bell Gentlemen becaufe 
they make their own Pedigree. 

5. There is a Queftion about that Article, Concern- 
ing the Power of the Church, whether thefe words [of 
having Power in Controverfies of Faith] were not 
ftoln in, but 'tis moft certain they were in the Book of 
Articles that was Confirm'd, though in fome Editions 
they have been left out : But the Article before tells you, 
who the Church is, not the Clergy, but Ccetusfidelium. 

Cf)urtf) of &rrme. 
t. 1 \ Efore a Juglars Tricks are difcovered we 
|"a admire him, and give him Money, but after- 
-*— * wards we care not for them, fo 'twas before 
the difcovery of the Jugling of the Church of Rome. 

2. Catholics fay, we out of our Charity, believe they 
of the Church of Ro?ne may be faved : But they do 
not believe fo of us. Therefore their Church is better 
according to our felves ; firft, fome of them no doubt 
believe as well of us, as we do of them, but they mull 
not fay fo, befides is that an Argument their Church 
is better than Ours, becaufe it has lefs Charity? 

3. One of the Church of Rome will not come to our 
Prayers, does that agree he doth not like them? I 
would fain fee a Catholic leave his Dinner, becaufe a 
Nobleman's Chaplain fays Grace, nor haply would he 
leave the Prayers of the Church, if going to Church 
were not made a mark of diftinction between a Pro- 
teflant and a Papijl. 

Cf)ttrd)*tf. 
1. ' PHE Way coming into our great Churches 
was Antiently at the Weft door, that Men 
"*- might fee the Altar, and all the Church be- 
fore them, the other Doors were but Pofterns. 



36 TABLE-TALK. 

Cttg. 

i . T T 7 Hat makes a City ? Whether a Bifhoprick 

\/\/ or an y °f tnat nature ? Anfwer. 'Tis 

* * according to the firfl Charter which made 

them a Corporation. If they are Incorporated by Name 

of Civitas they are a City, if by the name of Burgum, 

then they are a Burrough. 

2. The Lord Mayor of London by their firft Charter 
was to be prefented to the King, in his abfence to the 
Lord Chief Judiciary of England, afterwards to the 
Lord Chancellor, now to the Barons of the Exchequer, 
but flill there was a Refervation, that for their Honour 
they mould come once a Year to the King, as they 

do am. 

i. r I ^ Hough a Clergy-Man have no Faults of his 
own, yet the Faults of the whole Tribe mail 
-*■ be laid upon him, fo that he mail be fure 
not to lack. 

2. The Clergy would have us believe them againft 
our own Reafon, as the Woman would have her Hus- 
band againft his own Eyes : What ! will you believe 
your own Eyes before your own fweet Wife ? 

3. The Condition of the Clergy towards their 
Prince, and the Condition of the Phyfitian is all one : 
the Phyfitians tell the Prince they have Agrick and 
Rubarb, good for him, and good for his Subjects 
bodies, upon this he gives them leave to ufe it, but if 
it prove naught, then away with it, they mail ufe it no 
more. So the Clergy tell the Prince they have Phyfick 
good for his Soul, and good for the Souls of his People, 
upon that he admits them : but when he finds by 
Experience they both trouble him and his People, he 
will have no more to do with them, what is that to 
them or any body elfe if a King will not go to Heaven. 

4. A Clergy Man goes not a dram further than this, 
you ought to obey your Prince in general [if he does 
he is loft] how to obey him you muft be inform'd by 
thofe whofe profeffion it is to tell you. The Parfon 



TABLE-TALK. 37 

of the Tower (a good difcreet Man) told Dr. Mofely 
(who was fent to me, and the reft of the Gentlemen 
Committed the 3. Caroli, to perfwade Us to fubmit 
to the King) that they found no fuch words as [Parlia- 
ment, Habeas Corpus, Return, Tower, &c] Neither in 
the Fathers, nor the School-Men, nor in the Text, and 
therefore for his part he believed he underflood nothing 
of the bufmefs. A Satyr upon all thofe Clergy Men that 
meddle with Matters they do not underftand. 

All Confefs there never was a more Learned Clergy, 
no Man taxes them with Ignorance. But to talk of 
that, is like the Fellow that was a great Wentcher he 
wifht God would forgive him his Leachery, and lay 
Ufury to his Charge. The Clergy have worfe Faults. 

6. The Clergy and Laity together are never like to 
do well, 'tis as if a Man were to make an Excellent 
Feaft and mould have his Apothecary and Phyfitian 
come into the Kitchen : The Cooks if they were let 
alone would make Excellent Meat, but then comes the 
Apothecary and he puts Rubarb into one Sauce, and 
Agrick into another Sauce. Chain up the Clergy on 
both fides. 

W$b €anxmi$$ian. 

1 . IV /T EN cry out upon the High-Commiflion, as 
Y I if the Clergy-men only had to do in it, 
■^ -*- when I believe there are more Lay-men 
in Commiffion there, than Clergymen, if the Laymen 
will not come, whofe fault is that? So of the Star- 
Chamber the People think the Bifhops only cenfur'd 
Prin, Burton and Bajlwick, when there were but two 
there, and one speak not in his own Caufe. 

%kwZz at Command. 
r. r I ^Here be but two Erroneous Opinions in the 
Houfe of Commons, That the Lords fit only 
-*■ for themfelves, when the truth is, they fit as 
well for the Common-wealth. The Knights and 
Burgeffes fit for themfelves and others, fome for 
more, fome for fewer, and what is the reafon ? Be- 
caufe the Room will not hold all, the Lords being 



38 TABLE-TALK. 

few, they all come, and imagine a Room able to hold 
all the Commons of Englaiid, then the Lords and 
Burgeffes would fit no othenvife than the Lords do. 
The fecond Error is, that the Houfe of Commons are 
to begin to give Subfidies, yet if the Lords diffent 
they can give no Money. 

2. The Houfe of Commons is called the Lower 
Houfe in Twenty Acts of Parliament, but what are 
Twenty Acts of Parliament amongft Friends ? 

3. The Form of a Charge runs thus, / Accufe in the 
Name of all the Commons of England, how then can 
any man be as a Witnefs, when every man is made the 
Accufer ? 

1. TN time of Parliament it nfed to be one of the 
• firft things the Houfe did, to petition the King 
•*- that his Confeffor might be removed, as fear- 
ing either his power with the King, or elfe, leafl he 
mould reveal to the Pope what the Houfe was in 
doing, as no doubt he did, when the Catholick Caufe 
was concerned. 

2. The difference between us and the Papifls is, we 
both allow Contrition, but the Papifls make Confeffion 
a part of Contrition, they fay a Man is not fufficiently 
contrite, till he confefs his fins to a Prieft. 

3. Why mould I think a Prieft will not reveal Con- 
feffion, I am fure he will do anything that is forbidden 
him, haply not fo often as I, the utmoft punifhment is 
Deprivation, and how can it be proved, that ever any 
man reveal'd Confeffion, when there is no Witnefs ? 
And no man can be Witnefs in his own caufe. A 
meer Gullery. There was a time when 'twas publick 
in the Church, and there is much againft their Auri- 
cular Confeffion. 

r. r I ^Hat which is a Competency for one Man, is 

J not enough for another, no more than that 

■*■ which will keep one Man warm, will keep 

another Man warm ; one Man can go in Doublet and 



TABLE-TALK. 39 

Hofe, when another Man cannot be without a Cloak, 
and yet have no more Cloaths than is neceffary for him. 

<§r?at--C0njuwttcrn. 

THE greatefl Conjunction of Saturn axi&Jupi- 
ter, happens but once in Eight Hundred 
Years, and therefore Aflrologers can make no 
Experiments of it, nor foretel what it means, (not 
but that the Stars may mean fomthing, but we can- 
not tell what) becaufe we cannot come at them. 
Suppofe a Planet were a Simple, or an Herb, How 
could a Phyfician tell the Vertue of that Simple, 
unlefs he could come at it, to apply it ? 

€mx£tm\te t 

1. T T E that hath a Scrupulous Confcience, is like 
I I a Horfe that is not well weigh'd, he ftarts 
-*--*- at every Bird that flies out of the Hedge. 

2. A knowing Man will do that, which a tender 
Confcience Man dares not do, by reafon of his Igno- 
rance, the other knows there is no hurt, as a Child is 
afraid to go into the dark, when a Man is not, becaufe 
he knows there is no danger. 

3. If we once come to leave that out-loofe, as to 
pretend Confcience againil Law, who knows what in- 
convenience may follow? For thus, Suppofe an 
Anabaptijl comes and takes my Horfe, I Sue him, he 
tells me he did according to his Confcience, his Con- 
fcience tells him all things are common amongfl the 
Saints, what is mine is his, therefore you do ill to 
make fuch a Law, If any Man takes anothers Horfe 
he fhall be hang'd. What can I fay to this Man ? He 
does according to his Confcience. Why is not he as 
honeft a Man as he that pretends a Ceremony eftab- 
lifht by Law, is again ft his Confcience ? Generally 
to pretend Confcience againft Law is dangerous, in 
fome cafes haply we may. 

4. Some men make it a cafe of Confcience, whether 
a man may have a Pidgeon-houfe, becaufe his Pidgeons 
eat other Folks Corn. But there is no fuch thing as 



40 TABLE-TALK. 

Confcience in the bufinefs, the matter is, whether he 
be a man of fuch Quality, that the State allows him 
to have a Dove-houfe, if fo there's an end of the bufi- 
nefs, his Pidgeons have a right to eat where they 
pleafe themfelves. 

€aix£mxtz& placed. 
i . r I ^ HE/ews had a peculiar way of Confecrating 
things to God, which we have not. 
-*- 2. Under the Law, God, who was Matter 

of all, made choice of a Temple to Worfhip in, where 
he was more efpecially prefent : Juft as the Mailer of 
the Houfe, who ow[n]s all the Houfe, makes choice 
of one Chamber to lie in, which is called the Matter's 
Chamber, but under the Gofpel there was no fuch 
thing, Temples and Churches are fet apart for the con- 
veniency of men to Worfhip in ; they cannot meet upon 
the point of a Needle, but God himfelf makes no choice. 

3. All things are Gods already, we can give him no 
right by confecrating any, that he had not before, only 
we fet it apart to his Service. Jutt as a Gardiner 
brings his Lord and Matter a Basket of Apricocks, 
and prefents them, his Lord thanks him, perhaps gives 
him fomething for his pains, and yet the Apricocks 
were as much his Lords before as now. 

4. What is Confecrated, is given to fome particular 
man, to do God Service, not given to God, but given 
to Man, to ferve God : And there's not any thing, 
Lands or Goods, but fome men or other have it in 
their power, to difpofe of as they pleafe. The faying 
things Confecrated cannot be taken away, makes men 
afraid of Confecration. 

5. Yet Confecration has this Power, when a Man 
has Confecrated any thing to God, he cannot of him- 
felf take it away. 

Contracts. 

I. T F our Fathers have loft their Liberty, why may 

not we labour to regain it ? Anjw. We mutt 

-*- look to the Contract, if that be rightly made 

we mutt ttand to it, if we once grant we may recede 



TABLE-TALK. 41 

from Contracts upon any inconveniency that may 
afterwards happen, we fhall have no Bargain kept. 
If I fell you a Horfe, and do not like my Bargain, I 
will have my Horfe again. 

2. Keep your Contracts, fo far a Divine goes, but 
how to make our Contracts is left to our felves, and 
as we agree upon the conveying of this Houfe, or that 
Land, fo it muft be, if you offer me a hundred pounds 
for my Glove. I tell you what my Glove is, a plain 
Glove, pretend no virtue in it, the Glove is my own, 
I profefs not to fell Gloves, and we agree for an 
hundred pounds. I do not know why I may not with 
a fafe Confcience take it. The want of that common 
Obvious Diftinction of Jus prceceptivum, and Jus per- 
miffuni, does much trouble men. 

3. Lady Kent Articled with Sir Edward Herbert, 
that he fhould come to her when fhe fent for him, and 
flay with her as long as fhe would have him, to which 
he fet his hand ; then he Articled with her, That he 
fhould go away when he pleas'd, and ftay away as long 
as he pleas'd, to which fhe fet her hand. This is the 
Epitome of all the Contracts in the World, betwixt 
man and man, betwixt Prince and Subject, they keep 
them as long as they like them, and no longer. 

Council. 

1 . A I ^ Hey talk (but blafphemoufly enough) that 
the Holy Ghoft is Prefident of their General- 
-"- Councils, when the truth is, the odd man is 
Hill the Holy-Ghoft. 

Convocation. 

1. "T T J Hen the King fends his Writ for a Parlia- 
Y/\/ ment, he fends for two Knights for a 
* * Shire, and two Burgeffes for a Corpora- 
tion : But when he fends for two Archbiihops for a 
Convocation, he commands them to affemble the 
whole Clergy, but they out of cuflome amongft them- 
felves fend to the Bifhops of their Provinces to will 
them to bring two Clarks for a Diocefe, the Dean, one 



42 TABLE-TALK. 

for the Chapter, and the Arch -deacons, but to the 
King every Clergy-man is there prefent. 

2. We have nothing fo nearly expreffes the power 
of a Convocation, in refpecl of a Parliament, as a 
Court-Leet, where they have a power to make By- 
Laws, as they call them ; as that a man fhall put fo 
many Cows, or fheep in the Common, but they can 
make nothing that is contrary to the Laws of the 
Kingdom. 

Cmtr. 

i. \ Thanafms's Creed is the fhorteft, take away 
/-\ the Preface, and the force, and the Con- 
■*• \ clufion, which are not part of the Creed. 
In the Nicene Creed it is tic, tKK\r)aiuv, I believe 
in the Church, but now, as our Common-prayer has 
it, I believe one Catholick and Apoftolick Church ; 
they like not Creeds, becaufe they would have no 
Forms of Faith, as they have none of Prayer, though 
there be more reafon for the one than for the other. 

JBamuattmt. 

i. TF the Phyfician fees you eat anything that is 

not good for your Body, to keep you from it, 

•*- he crys 'tis poyfon, if the Divine fees you do 

any thing that is hurtful for your Soul, to keep you 

from it, he crys out you are damn'd. 

2. To preach long, loud, and Damnation is the way 
to be cry'd up. We love a man that Damns us, and we 
run after him again to fave us. If a man had a fore Leg, 
and he fhould go to an Honeft Judicious Chyrurgeon, 
and he mould only bid him keep it warm, and anoint 
with fuch an Oyl (an Oyl well known) that would do 
the Cure, haply he would not much regard him, be- 
caufe he knows the Medecine before hand an ordinary 
Medecine. But if he mould go to a Surgeon that 
fhould tell him, your Leg will Gangreen within three 
days, and it mull be cut off, and you will die, unlefs you 
do fomething that I could tell you, what liftning there 
would be to this Man ? Oh for the Lord's fake, tell me 
what this is, I will give you any content for your pains. 



TABLE-TALK. 



JBcfafte. 



i "T T THY have we none poffeft with Devils in 
X/Y/ England! The old Anfvver is, the Pro- 
* * teflants the Devil hath already, and the 
Papifts are fo Holy, he dares not meddle with them. 
Why, then beyond Seas where a Nun is poffeft, when 
a Hugonot comes into the Church, does not the Devil 
hunt them out ? The Prieft teaches him, you never 
faw the Devil throw up a Nuns Coats, mark that, the 
Prieft will not fuffer it, for then the People will fpit at 
him. 

2. Cafting out Devils is meer Juggling, they never 
caft out any but what they firft caft in. They do 
it where for Reverence no Man fhall dare to Examine 
it, they do it in a Corner, in a Mortice-hole, not in the 
Market-place. They do nothing but what may be 
done by Art, they make the Devil fly out of the Win- 
dow in the likenefs of a Bat, or a Rat, why do they 
not hold him ? Why, in the likenefs of a Bat, or a 
Rat, or fome Creature ? That is why not in fome 
fhape we Paint him in, with Claws and Horns? By 
this trick they gain much, gain upon Mens fancies, and 
fo are reverenc'd, and certainly if the Prieft deliver 
me from him, that is my moft deadly Enemy, I have 
all the Reafon in the World to Reverence him. 
Objection. But if this be Juggling, why do they punifh 
Impoflures ? Anfwer. For great Reafon, becaufe 
they do not play their part well, and for fear others 
fhould difcover them, and fo all of them ought to be 
of the fame Trade. 

3. A Perfon of Quality came to my Chamber in the 
Temple, and told me he had two Devils in his head 
[I wonder'd what he meant] and juft at that time, one 
of them bid him kill me, [with that I begun to be 
afraid and thought he was mad] he faid he knew I 
could Cure him, and therefore intreated me to give 
him fomething, for he was refolv'd to go to no body 
else. I perceiving what an Opinion he had of me, and that 
'twas only Melancholy that troubl'd him, took him in 



44 TABLE-TALK. 

hand, warranted him, if he would follow my directions, 
to Cure him in a fhort time. I defired him to let me 
be alone about an hour, and then to come again, 
which he was very willing to. In the mean time 
I got a Card, and lapt it up handfome in a piece 
of Taffata, and put firings to the Taffata, and when 
he came gave it to him, to hang about his Neck, 
withal charged him, that he mould not diforder him- 
felf neither with eating or drinking, but eat very little 
of Supper, and fay his Prayers duly when he went to 
Bed, and I made no queftion but he would be well in 
three or four days. Within that time I went to Dinner 
to his Houfe and askt him how he did ? He faid he 
was much better, but not perfectly well, [f]or in truth he 
had not dealt clearly with me, he had four Devils 
in his head, and he perceiv'd two of them were gone, 
with that which I had given him, but the other two 
troubled him Hill. Well faid I, I am glad two of 
them are gone I make no doubt but to get away the 
other two likewife. So I gave him another thing to 
hang about his Neck, three days after he came to me 
to my Chamber and profefl he was now as well as 
ever he was in his life, and did extreamly thank me for 
the great care I had taken of him, I fearing leaf! 
he might relapfe into the like Diflemper, told him 
that there was none but my felf, and one Phyfitian 
more in the whole Town that could Cure the Devils 
in the head, and that was Dr. Harvey (whom I had 
prepar'd) and wifht him if ever he found himfelf ill in 
my abfence to go to him, for he could Cure his Dif- 
eafe, as well as my felf. The Gentleman lived many 
Years and was never troubl'd after. 

J£elf HEtettgal. 

i. "HT^ IS much the Doctrine of the times that Men 
mould not pleafe themfelves, but deny 
-*- themfelves every thing they take delight in, 
not look upon Beauty, wear no good Clothes, eat no 
good Meat, &°c. which feems the greatefl Accufation 
that can be upon the maker of all good things. If 



TABLE-TALK. 45 

they be not to be us'd, why did God make them ? The 
truth is, they that preach againft them, cannot make 
ufe of them their felves, and then again they get 
Efleem by feeming to contemn them. But mark it 
while you live, if they do not pleafe themfelves as 
much as they can, and we live more by Example than 
precept. 

ButTl. 

i. A Duell may frill be granted in fome Cafes 
f-\ by the Law of Englana, and only there. 

-*■ *• That the Church allow'd it Antiently, ap- 
pears by this, in their publick Liturgies there were 
Prayers appointed for the Duelifts to fay, the Judge, 
ufed to bid them go to fuch a Church and pray, &>c. 
But whether is this Lawful ? If you grant any War 
Lawful, I make no doubt but to Convince it, War is 
Lawful, becaufe God is the only Judge between two, 
that is Supream. Now if a difference happen between 
two Subjects, and it cannot be decided by Human 
Teftimony, why may they not put it to God to Judge 
between them by the Permiffion of the Prince ? Nay 
what if we mould bring it down for Arguments fake, to 
the Swordmen. One gives me the Lye, 'tis a great 
difgrace to take it, the Law has made no provifion to 
give Remedy for the Injury (if you can fuppofe any 
thing an Injury for which the Law gives no Remedy) 
why am not I in this cafe Supream, and may therefore 
right my felf. 

2. A Duke ought to fight with a Gentleman, the 
Reafon is this, the Gentleman will fay to the Duke 'tis 
True, you hold a higher Place in the State than I, 
there's a great diflance between you and me, but your 
Dignity does not Priviledge you to do me an Injury, 
as foon as ever you do me an Injury, you make your 
felf my equal, and as you are my equal I Challenge 
you, and in fence the Duke is bound to Anfwer him. 
This will give you fome light to underfland the Quar- 
rel betwixt a Prince and his Subjects, though there be 
a vaft diflance between him and them, and they are 
to obey him, according to their Contract, yet he hath 



46 TABLE-TALK. 

no power to do them an Injury, then they think them- 
felves as much bound to Vindicate their right, as 
they are to obey his Lawful Commands, nor is there 
any other meafure of Juftice left upon Earth but 
Arms. 

(IFjpttagT). 

i. \ N Epitaph muft be made fit for the Perfon 
/.A for whom it is made, for a Man to fay all the 
-*■ -*• Excellent things, that can be faid upon one, 
and call that his Epitaph, is as if a Painter fhouid 
make the handibmeft piece he can poffibly make, and 
fay 'twas my Picture. It holds in a Funeral Sermon. 

CFijuitg. 

i. "I "* Quity in Law is the fame that the Spirit is 
r~4 in Religion, what every one pleafes to make 
J — ' it, fometimes they go according to Con- 
fidence, fometimes according to Law, fometimes ac- 
cording to the Rule of Court. 

2. Equity is a Roguifh thing, for Law we have 
a meafure, know what to truft to, Equity is according 
to Confidence of him that is Chancellor, and as that is 
larger or narrower, fo is Equity. 'Tis all one as if 
they fhouid make the Standard for the meafure, we 
call a Chancellors Foot, what an uncertain meafure 
would this be ? One Chancellor has a long Foot, 
another a fhort Foot, a third an indifferent Foot. 'Tis 
the fame thing in the Chancellors Confidence. 

3. That faying, do as you would be done to, is often 
mifunderftood, for 'tis not thus meant that I a private 
Man, mould do to you a private Man, as I would 
have you to me, but do, as we have agreed to do one 
to another by publick Agreement, If the Pnfoner 
fhouid ask the Judge, whether he would be content to 
be hang'd, were he in his Cafe, he would anfwer no. 
Then fays the Prifoner, do as you would be dene to, 
neither of them muft do as private Men, but the Judge 
mull do by him as they have publickly agreed, that is 
both Judge and Prifoner have confented to a Law 
that if either of them Steal, they (hall be hanged. 



TABLE-TALK. 47 

i. T T E that fpeaks ill of another commonly 

I — I before he is aware, makes himfelf fuch 

-^ -■■ a one as he fpeaks againft, for if he had 

the Civility or breeding he would forbear fuch kind of 

Language. 

2. A Gallant Man is above ill words : an Example 
we have in the old Lord of Salisbury (who was a 
great wife Man) Stone had call'd fome Lord about 
Court, Fool, the Lord complains and has Stone whipt, 
Stone cries, I might have called my Lord of Salisbury 
Fool often enough, before he would have had me whipt. 

3. Speak not ill of a great Enemy but rather give 
him good words, that he may ufe you the better, if 
you chance to fall into his Hands, the Spaniard did 
this when he was dying; his Confeffor told him (to 
work him to Repentance) how the Devil Tormented 
the wicked that went to Hell : the Spaiiiard replying, 
called the Devil my Lord. I hope my Lord the 
Devil is not fo Cruel, his Confeffor reproved him. 
Excufe me faid the Don, for calling him fo, I know 
not into what hands I may fall, and if I happen into 
his, I hope he will ufe me the better for giving him 
good words. 

d£):c0mmumratt0tt. 

1. ^r^Hat place they bring for Excommunication 
[put away from among your felves that 
-*■ wicked person, 1 Cor. 5. Cha : 13. verfe] is 
corrupted in the Greek, for it mould be to 7roi>r)p6i', 
put away that Evil from among you, not rbv Trov-qpov, 
that Evil Perfon, befides irov^poQ is the Devil in 
Scripture, and it may be so taken there, and there is 
a new Edition of Theoderet come out, that has it right 
to Trovr)pcv. 'Tis true the Chriftians before the Civil 
State became Chriftian, did by Covenant and Agree- 
ment fet down how they fhould live ; and he that did not 
obferve what they agreed upon, fhould come no more 
amongft them, that is, be Excommunicated. Such Men 
are fpoken of by the Apojlk [Romans 1. 31.] who he 



<8 TABLE-TALK. 

calls aawBirovQ kciI aoirorSovg, the Vulgar has it, Incom ■ 
pofitos, et fine feeder e, the laft word is pretty well, but the 
firft not at all, Origen in his Book againft Celfus, 
fpeaks of the Chriftians. <rup&fiicri : the Tranllation 
renders it Conventus, as it fignifies a Meeting, when it 
is plain it fignifies a Covenant, and the E?iglifti Bible 
turned the other word well, Covenant-breakers. Pliny 
tells us, the Chriftians took an Oath amongft them- 
felves to live thus, and thus. 

2. The other place [Die Eeelefiee] tell the Church, is 
but a weak Ground to raife Excommunication upon, 
efpecially from the Sacrament, the leffer Excommuni- 
cation, fmce when that was fpoken, the Sacrament was 
inftituted. The Jews Eeclefia was their Sanhedri7n, 
their Court : fo that the meaning is : if after once or 
twice Admonition this Brother will not be reclaim'd, 
bring him thither. 

3. The firft Excommunication was 180. Years after 
Chrift, and that by Vi6tor, Bifhop of Rome. But that 
was no more than this, that they mould Communicate 
and receive the Sacrament amongft themfelves, not with 
thofe of the other Opinion : The Controverfie (as I 
take it) being about the Feaft of Eajler. Men do not 
care for Excommunication becaufe they are fhut out of 
the Church, or delivered up to Sathan, but becaufe 
the Law of the Kingdom takes hold of them, after fo 
many days a Man cannot Sue, no, not for his Wife, if 
you take her from him, and there may be as much 
Reafon, to grant it for a fmall Fault, if there be Con- 
tumacy, as for a great one, in Weflminfile?'-Hall you 
you may Out-law a Man for forty Shillings, which 
is their Excommunication, and you can do no more 
for forty Thoufand Pound. 

4. When Conftantine became Chriftian, he fo fell 
in love with the Clergy, that he let them be Judges of 
all things, but that continued not above three or four 
Years, by reafon they were to be Judges of matters 
they underftood not, and then they were allowed to 
meddle with nothing but Religion, all Jurifdiclion 
belonged to him, and he fcanted them out as much as 



TABLE-TALK. 49 

he pleafed, and fo things have fmce continued. They 
Excommunicate for three or four things, matters con- 
cerning Adultery, Tythes, Wills, &*c. which is the 
Civil Punifhment the State allows for fuch Faults. If 
a Bifhop Excommunicate a Man for what he ought 
not, the Judge has Power to abfolve, and punifh the 
Bifhop, if they had that Jurifdiction from God, why 
does not the Church Excommunicate for Murder, for 
Theft ? If the Civil Power might take away all but 
three things, why may they not take them away too ? 
If this Excommunication were taken away, the Pres- 
byters would be quiet ; 'tis that they have a mind to, 
'tis that they would fain be at, like the Wench that 
was to be Married ; fhe asked her Mother when 'twas 
done, if fhe mould go to Bed prefently: no fays her 
Mother you mufl Dine firfl, and then to Bed Mother ? 
no you muft Dance after Dinner, and then to Bed 
Mother, no you mufl go to Supper, and then to Bed 
Mother, &c. 

ifaitf) antf £morfe£. 

i. "" I ^Was an unhappy Divifion that has been 
made between Faith and Works ; though 
-"*- in my Intellect I may divide them, juft as 
in the Candle, I know there is both light and heat. 
But yet put out the Candle, and they are both gone, 
one remains not without the other: So 'tis betwixt 
Faith and Works ; nay, in a right Conception Fides eft 
opus, if I believe a thing becaule I am commanded, 
that is Opus. 

dfH£ttncj--tfag£« 
i. T T J Hat the Church debars us one day, fhe 
l/V §i ves us l ea -ve to take out in another. 
• * Firft we Fall, and then we Feaflj firfl 
there is a Carnival, and then a Lent. 

2. Whether do Human Laws bind the Confcience ? 
If they do, 'tis a way to enfnare : If we fay they do 
not, we open the door to difobedience. Anfw. In 
this Cafe we mufl look to the Juflice of the Law, and 
intention of the Law-giver. If there be no Juflice in 

D 



50 TABLE-TALK. 

the Law, 'tis not to be obey'd, if the intention of the 
Law-giver be abfolute, our obedience muft be fo too. 
If the intention of the Law-giver enjoyn a Penalty as 
a Compenfation for the Breach of the Law, I fin not, 
if I fubmit to the Penalty, if it enjoyn a Penalty, as a 
further enforcement of Obedience to the Law, then 
ought I to obferve it, which may be known by the 
often repetition of the Law. The way of Failing is 
enjoy n'd unto them, who yet do not obferve it. The 
Law enjoyns a Penalty as an enforcement to Obedience; 
which intention appears by the often calling upon us, 
to keep that Law by the King and the Difpenfation of 
the Church to fuch as are not able to keep it, as 
Young Children, Old Folks, Disfeas'd Men, &c. 

$ti$zx£ atttr g>a\vi. 

i. I" T hath ever been the way for Fathers, to bind 

their Sons, to ftrengthen this by the Law of 

-*- the Land, every one at Twelve Years of age, 

is to take the Oath of Allegiance in Court-Leets, 

whereby he fvvears Obedience to the King. 

i. r I ^HE old Law was, That when a Man was 
Fin'd, he was to be Fin'd Salvo Conte- 
-*- nemento, fo as his Countenance might be 
fafe, taking Countenance in the fame fenfe as your 
Countryman does, when he fays, if you will come unto 
my Houfe, I will mow you the bell Countenance I can, 
that is not the beft Face, but the befl Entertainment. 
The meaning of the Law was, that fo much mould be 
taken from a man, fuch a Gobbet fliced off, that yet 
notwithstanding he might live in the fame Rank and 
Condition he lived in before ; but now they Fine men 
ten times more than they are worth. 

i. r I A HE Puritans who will allow no free-will at 

all, but God does all, yet will allow the 

-^- Subject his Liberty to do, or not to do, not- 

withflanding the King, the God upon Earth. The 



TABLE-TALK. 51 

Armenians, who hold we have free-will, yet fay, when 
we come to the King, there muft be ail Obedience, 
and no Liberty to be flood for. 

dfrner£. 

it. r I ^HE Fryers fay they poffefs nothing, whofe 
then are the Lands they hold? not their 
-*■ Superiour's, he hath vow'd Poverty as well as 
they, whofe then ? To anfwer this, 'twas Decreed they 
mould fay they were the Popes. And why muft the 
Fryers be more perfect than the Pope himfelf ? 

2. If there had been no Fryers, Chrijlendome might 
have continu'd quiet, and things remain'd at a flay. 

If there had been no Lecturers (which fucceed the 
Friers in their way) the Church of England might 
have flood, and flouriflit at this day. 



O 



dfrienttf. 

LD Friends are beft. King Ja??ies us'd to 
call for his Old Shoos, they were eafieft for 
his Feet. 



<Scncal03» of €f)viit 

1. r I ^Hey that fay the reafon why Jofeptis Pedi- 
gree is fet down, and not Mary's, is, becaufe 
*■ the defcent from the Mother is loft, and 
fvvallow'd up, fay fomething ; but yet if a JewiJJi 
Woman, marry'd with a Gentil, they only took notice of 
the Mother, not of the Father • but they that fay they 
were both of a Tribe, fay nothing, for the Tribes might 
Marry one with another, and the Law againft it was 
only Temporary, in the time while JqJJiiia was dividing 
the Land, left the being fo long about it, there might 
be a confufion. 

2. That Chrift was the Son oijofefih is mofl exactly 
true. For though he was the Son of God, yet with 
the Jews, if any man kept a Child, and brought him 
up, and call'd him Son, he was taken for his Son ; and 
his Land (if he had any) was to defcend upon him ; 
and therefore the Genealogy oijofeph is juftly fet down. 



52 TABLE-TALK. 

tetntltmm. 

i. T T 7 Hat a Gentleman is, 'tis hard with us to 
\/\/ define, in other Countries he is known by 
* * his Privileges ; in Weflininfler Hall he is 
one that is reputed one ; in the Court of Honour, he 
that hath Arms. The King cannot make a Gentleman 
of Blood [what have you faid] nor God Almighty, but 
he can make a Gentleman by Creation. If you ask 
which is the better of thefe two, Civilly, the Gentleman 
of Blood, Morally the Gentleman by Creation may be 
the better ; for the other may be a Debauch'd man, this 
a Perfon of worth. 

2. Gentlemen have ever been more Temperate in 
their Religion, than the Common People, as having 
more Reafon, the others running in a hurry. In the 
beginning of Chriftianity, the Fathers writ Co?itra 
gentes, and Contra Gentiles, they were all one : But 
after all were Chriftians, the better fort of People flill 
retain'd the name of Gentiles, throughout the four 
Provinces of the Roman Empire; as Gentil-Jwmme in 
French, Gentilhomo in Italian, Gentil ' huombre in Spa?ii/Jt, 
and Gentil-man in Englijh : And they, no queftion, 
being Perfons of Quality, kept up thole Feafls which 
we borrow from the Gentils ; as Chrijlmas, Candlemas, 
May-day, &c. continuing what was not directly againft 
Chriflianity, which the Common people would never 
have endured. 

6nltf. 

i. r I ^Here are two Reafons, why thefe words 
(Jejus autem tranfiens per medium eorum 
**- ibat) were about our old Gold : the one is, 
because Ripley the Alchymift, when he made Gold in 
the Tower, the firft time he found it, he fpoke thefe 
words [per medium eoruni\ that is, per medium ignis, et 
Sulphur is. The other, becaufe thefe words were 
thought to be a Charm, and that they did bind what- 
soever they were written upon, fo that a Man could 
not take it awav. To this Reafon I rather incline. 



TABLE-TALK. 53 



1 . r I ^ HE Hall was the place where the great Lord 
us'd to eat, (wherefore elfe were the Halls 
-** made fo big?) Where he faw all his Servants 
and Tenants about him. He eat not in private, Except 
in time of ficknefs ; when once he became a thing 
Coopt up, all his greatnefs was fpoil'd. Nay the King 
himfelf ufed to eat in the Hall, and his Lords late 
with him, and then he underftood Men. 

1. r I ^Here are two Texts for Chrift's defend- 
ing into Hell: The one Pfalm. 16. The 
-*- other Acls the 2d. where the Bible that 
was in ufe when the thirty nine Articles were made has 
it {Hell.) But the Bible that was in Queen Elizabeth 1 ?, 
time, when the Articles were confirm' d, reads it 
{Grave,) and fo it continu'd till the New Tranflation 
in King James 1 ? time, and then 'tis Hell again. But 
by this we may gather the Church of England declined 
as much as they could, the defcent, otherwife they 
never would have alter'd the Bible. 

2. (He defcended into Hell) this may be the Inter- 
pretation of it. He may be dead and buried, then his 
Soul afcended into Heaven. Afterwards he defcended 
again into Hell, that is, into the Grave, to fetch his 
Body, and to rife again. The ground of this Interpre- 
tation is taken from the Platonick Learning, who held 
a Metempfychofis, and when a Soul did defcend from 
Heaven to take another Body, they call'd it Kara 
ftaaiv elg aZrji' taking (\c))q. for the lower World, 
the date of Mortality: Now the firft Chriflians 
many of them were Platonick Philofophers, and no 
question fpake fuch Language as then was under- 
ftood amongft them. To underftand by Hell the 
Grave is no Tautology, becaufe the Creed firft tells 
what Chrifl fuffer'd, he was Crucified, Dead, and 
Buried ; then it tells us what he did, he defcended into 
Hell, the third day he rofe again, he afcendea, &c. 



54 TABLE-TALK. 

i. r I ^Hey fay the Church impofes Holy-days, 
there's no fuch thing, though the number 
"*• of Holy-days is fet down in fome of our 
Common-Prayer Books. Yet that has relation to an 
Act. of Parliament, which forbids the keeping of any 
Holy-Days in time of Popery, but thofe that are kept, 
are kept by the Cuflom of the Country, and I hope 
you will not fay the Church impofes that. 

^umtlttj). 
i. T T Umility is aVertue all preach, none practife, 
I I and yet every body is content to hear. 

-*- -*- The Mailer thinks it good Doctrine for his 
Servant, the Laity for the Clergy, and the Clergy for 
the Laity. 

2. There is Humilitas qncBdam in Vitio. If a man 
does not take notice of that excellency and perfection 
that is in himfelf, how can he be thankful to God, 
who is the Author of all Excellency and Perfection ? 
Nay, if a Man hath too mean an Opinion of himfelf, 
'twill render him unferviceable both to God and Man. 

3. Pride may be allow'd to this or that degree, elfe 
a man cannot keep up his Dignity. In Gluttons there 
mufl be Eating, in drunkennefs there muft be drinking ; 
'tis not the eating, nor 'tis not the drinking that is to 
be blam'd, but the Excefs. So in Pride. 

Etffllatrj). 
1. T Dolatry is in a Man's own thought, not in the 
Opinion of another. Put Cafe I bow to the 
-*- Altar, why am I guilty of Idolatry ? becaufe 
a ftander by thinks fo ? I am fure I do not believe 
the Altar to be God, and the God I worfhip may be 
bow'd to in all places, and at all times. 

1. /^* OD at the firft gave Laws to all Mankind, 

tt -jr but afterwards he gave peculiar Laws to the 

Jews, which they were only to obferve. Jufl 



TABLE-TALK. 55 

as we have the Common Law for all England, and yet 
you have fome Corporations, that, befides that, have 
peculiar Laws and priviledges to themfelves. 

2. Talk what you will of the Jews, that they are 
Curfed, they thrive where e're they come, they are able 
to oblige the Prince of their Country by lending him 
money, none of them beg, they keep together, and for 
their being hated, my life for yours, Chriitians hate 
one another as much. 

intmtcttjle Egttnrattce. 
1. "Hp*IS all one to me if I am told of Chrift, or 
fome Myftery of Chriftianity, if I am not 
-*- capable of understanding, as if I am not 
told at all, my Ignorance is as invincible, and therefore 
'tis vain to call their Ignorance only invincible, who 
never were told of Chrift. The trick of it is to advance 
the Prieft, whilfl the Church of Rome fays a Man muft 
be told of Chrift, by one thus and thus ordain'd. 

1. r I ^HE Papifts taking away the fecond [Com- 
mandment], is not haply fo horrid a thing, 
-*- nor fo unreafonable amongft Chriflians as 
we make it. For the Jews could make no figure of 
God, but they muft commit Idolatry, becaufe he had 
taken no fhape, but iince the Affumption of our flefh, 
we know what fhape to picture God in. Nor do I 
know why we may not make his Image, provided we 
be fure what it is : as we fay Saint Luke took the 
picture ot the Virgin Mary, and Saint Verofiica of our 
Saviour. Otherwife it would be no honour to the 
King, to make a Picture, and call it the King's Picture, 
when 'tis nothing like him. 

2. Though the Learned Papifts pray not to Images, 
yet 'tis to be feared the ignorant do ; as appears by 
that Story of St. Nicholas in Spain. A Countrey-man 
us'd to offer daily to St. Nicholas's Image, at length by 
mifchance the Image was broken, and a new one made 
of his own Plumb-Tree ; after that the man forbore, 
being complain'd of to his Ordinary, he anfvver'd, 'tis 



50 TABLE-TALK. 

true, he us'd to offer to the Old Image, but to the 
new he could not find in his heart, becaufe he knew 
'twas a piece of his own Plumb Tree. You fee what 
Opinion this man had of the Image, and to this tended 
the bowing of their Images, the twinkling of their 
Eyes, the Virgins Milk, &*c. Had they only meant 
reprefentations, a Picture would have done as well as 
thefe tricks. It may be with us in England they do 
not worfhip images, becaufe living among Proteftants, 
they are either laught out of it, or beaten out of it by 
mock of Argument. 

3. 'Tis a difcreet way concerning Pictures in 
Churches, to let up no new, nor to pull down no old. 

imperial €an8tit\itian$. 

1. r I ^Hey fay Imperial Conftitutions did only con- 
firm the Canons of the Church, but that is 
-*- not fo, for they inflicted punifhment, when 
the Canons never did. {viz) If a man Converted a 
Chriflian to be a Jew, he was to forfeit his Eftate, and 
lofe his Life. In Valentines Novels 'tis faid. Conjlat 
Epifcopus Forum Legibus non habere, et Judicant tantum 
de Reiigione. 

Smjprt&rnment. 
i. r~^ IR Kenehne Digby was feveral times taken and 
^^ let go again, at laft Impriion'd in Winche/ler- 
^— * Houfe. I can compare him to nothing but 
a great Fifh that we catch and let go again, but flill 
he will come to the Bait, at laft therefore we put him 
into fome great Pond for Store. 

Ktueutftarictf. 

1 . "J ^ Ancy to your felf a Man fets the City on Fire 
|^ at Cripplegate, and that Fire continues by 
-*■ means of others, 'till it come to White-Fryers, 
and then he that began it would fain quench it, does 
not he deferve to be punifht moil that firft fet the City 
on Fire ? So 'tis with the Incendiaries of the State. 
They that firft fet it on fire [by Monopolizing, Forreft 
Bufinefs, Imprifoning Parliament Men, tcrtio Caroii, 



TABLE-TALK. 57 

&c] are now become regenerate, and would fain 
quench the Fire ; Certainly they deferv'd moil to be 
punifh'd, for being the firft Caufe of our Diffractions. 

Sntfejiaitrencg. 

1. T Ndependency is in ufe at Amfterdam, where 
forty Churches or Congregations have nothing 
■*■ to do one with another. And 'tis no queftion 
agreeable to the Primitive times, before the Emperour 
became Chriflian. For either we muft fay every 
Church govern'd it felf, or elfe we muft fall upon that 
old foolifh Rock, that St. Peter and his Succeffours 
govern'd all, but when the Civil State became Chris- 
tian, they appointed who mould govern them, before 
they govern'd by agreement and confent ; if you will 
not do this, you fhall come no more amongft us, but 
both the Independant man, and the Presbyterian man 
do equally exclude the Civil Power, though after a 
different manner. 

2. The Independant may as well plead, they fhould 
not be fubjecl to temporal Things, not come before a 
Conftable, or a Juflice of Peace, as they plead they 
fhould not be fubject in Spiritual things, becaufe St Paul 
fays, Is it fo, that there is not a wife man amo?ig(l you ? 

3. The Pope challenges all Churches to be under 
him, the King and the two Arch-Bifhops challenge 
all the Church of Engla?id to be under them. The 
Presbyterian man divides the Kingdom into as many 
Churches as there be Presbyteries, and your Indepen 
dant would have every Congregation a Church by it felf. 

&i)tnjj3 Etttttfferent. 

1. TNa time of Parliament, when things are under 

debate, they are indifferent, but in a Church 

-*- or State fetled, there's nothing left indifferent. 

Pttfiltrfc Sntixtit. 

1. \ LL might go well in the Common-Wealth, if 

/-\ every one in the Parliament would lay down 

**■ -*- his own Intereft, and aim at the general 

good. If a man were lick, and the whole Colledge of 



53 TABLE-TALK. 

Phyficians fhould come to him, and adminifler feverally, 
haply fo long as they obferv'd the Rules of Art he 
might recover, but if one of them had a great deal of 
Scamony by him, he muft put off that, therefore he 
prefcribes Scamony. Another had a great deal of 
Rubarb, and he mull put off that, and therefore he 
preicribes Rubarb, &*c. they would certainly kill the 
man. We deftroy the Common-wealth, while we pre- 
ferve our own private Interefts, and neglect the 
Publick. 

$umane Snbeuttmt. 

I. "X 70V fay there muft be no Human Invention 
Y in the Church, nothing but the pure word. 
-*• Anfwer. If I give any Expofition, but what is 
exprefs'd in the Text, that is my invention : if you give 
another Expofition, that is your invention, and both 
are Human. For Example, fuppofe the word [Egg] 
were in the Text, I fay, 'tis meant an Henn-Egg, you 
fay a Goofe-Egg, neither of thefe are expreft, therefore 
they are Humane Invention, and I am lure the newer 
the Invention the worfe, old Inventions are belt. 

2. If we muft admit nothing, but what we read in 
the Bible, what will become of the Parliament ? for we 
do not read of that there. 

i. T T 7"E cannot tell what is a Judgment of God, 
\/\/ 'tis preiumption to take upon us to know 
* • In time of Plague we know we want 
health, and therefore we pray to God to give us health ; 
in time of War we know we want peace, and therefore 
we pray to God to give us peace. Commonly we fay 
a Judgment ialls upon a man lor lomething in them 
we cannot abide. An Example we have in King 
James, concerning the death of Henry the Fourth of 
JFrafice ; one faid he was kill'd for his Wenching, an- 
other laid he was kill'd for turning his Religion. No, 
lays King James (who could not abide fighting) he was 
kill'd tor permitting Duels in his Kingdom. 



TABLE-TALK. 59 

r. T T 7"E fee the Pageants in Cheapjide,i\\t Lions, 

V/V/ and the Elephants, but we do not fee the 

* ' men that carry them ; we fee the Judges look 

big, look like Lions, but we do not fee who moves them. 

2. Little things do great works, when great things 
will not. If I mould take a Pin from the ground, a 
little pair of Tongues will do it, when a great pair will 
not. Go to a Judge to do a bufmefs for you, by no 
means he will not hear it ; but go to fome fmall Ser- 
vant about him, and he will dispatch it according to 
your hearts defire. 

3. There could be no mifchief done in the Common- 
wealth without a Judge. Though there be falfe Dice 
brought in at the Groom-Porters, and cheating offer'd, 
yet unlefs he allow the Cheating, and judge the Dice 
to be good, there may be hopes ol fair play. 

1. ir I MS not Juggling that is to be blam'd, but 

much Juggling, for the World cannot be 

-^ Govern'd without it. All your Rhetorick, 

and all your Elenchs in Logick come within the com- 

pafs of Juggling. 

gurt£tftctt0tT. 
1 . r I ^ Here's no fuch Thing as Spiritual Jurifdiction, 
all is Civil, the Churches is the fame with 
-*- the Lord Mayors ; fuppofe a Chriftian came 
into a Pagan Country, how can you fancy he fhall have 
any Power there ? he finds faults with the Gods of the 
Country, well, they will put him to Death for it, when 
he is a Martyr, what follows ? Does that argue he has 
any Spiritual Jurifdiction ? If the Clergy lay the 
Church ought to be govern'd thus, and thus, by the 
word of God, that is Doctrine all, that is not Difcipline. 
2. The Pope he challenges Jurifdiction over all, the 
Bifhops they pretend to it as well as he, the Presby- 
terians they would have it to themfelves, but ovei 
whom is all this ? the poor Laymen. 



6o TABLE-TALK. 

$\lg 39fttmtm. 

i. \ LL things are held by Jus Divi?ium, either 
/-\ immediately or mediately. 
•*■ -*- 2. Nothing has loft the Pope fo much 
in his Supremacy, as not acknowledging what Princes 
gave him. Tis a fcorn upon the Civil Power, and an 
unthankfulnefs in the Prieft. But the Church runs to 
Jus Divinum, left if they mould acknowledge what 
they have they have by pofitive Law, it might be as 
well taken from them as given to them. 

i. \ King is a thing men have made for their own 
j-\ fakes, for quietnefs fake. Juft as in a Family 
■*■ ■*- one Man is appointed to buy Meat ; if every 
man mould buy, or if there were many buyers, th ey would 
never agree, one would buy what the other lik'd not, or 
what the other had bought before, fo there would be a 
confufion. But that Charge being committed to one, he 
according to his Difcretion pleafes all, if they have not 
what they would have one day, they fhall have it the 
next, or fomething as good. 

2. The word King directs our Eyes, fuppofe it had 
been Conful, or Dictator, to think all Kings alike is 
the fame folly, as if a Conful of Aleppo or Smyrna, 
mould claim to himfelf the fame power that a Conful 
at Rome, What, am not I a Conful ? or a Duke of 
England {hould think himfelf like the Duke of Florence ; 
nor can it be imagin'd, that the word fiaaiXivq did 
fignifie the fame in Greek, as the Hebrew word ""p^ 
did with the Jews. Befides, let the Divines in their 
Pulpits fay what they will, they in their practice deny 
that all is the Kings : They fue him, and fo does all the 
Nation, whereof they are a part. What matter is it then, 
what they Preach or Teach in the Schools? 

3. Kings are all individual, this or that King, there 
is no Species of Kings. 

4. A King that claims Priviledges in his own Country, 
becaufe they have them in another, is juft as a Cook, that 



TABLE-TALK. Gi 

claims Fees in one Lords Houfe, becaufe they are 
allow'd in another. If the Mafler of the Houfe will 
yield them, well and good. 

5. The Text [render unto Ccefar the things that are 
Ccefars\ makes as much againft Kings, as for them, 
for it says plainly that fome things are not Cafars. 
But Divines make choice of it, firft in flattery, and then 
becaufe of the other part adjoin'd to it \i-ender unto Goa 
the things that are Gods] where they bring in the Church. 

6. A King outed of his Country, that takes as much 
upon him as he did at home, in his own Court, is as if 
a man on high, and I being upon the ground, us'd to 
lift up my voice to him, that he might hear me, at 
length mould come down, and then expects I mould 
fpeak as loud to him as I did before. 

Iftwfl al ^njjlatttf. 

1. r I ^HE King can do no wrong, that is no Procefs 
can be granted againft him, what mult be 
-^- done then? Petition him, and the King 
writes upon the Petition foit droit fait ', and fends it to 
the Chancery, and then the bufmefs is heard. His 
Confeffor will not tell him he can do no wrong. 

2. There's a great deal of difference between Head 
of the Church, and Supream Governour, as our 
Canons call the King. Conceive it thus, there is in 
the Kingdom of England a Colledge of Phificians, the 
King is Supream Governour of thofe, but not Head of 
them, nor Prefident of the Colledge, not the belt Phifician. 

3. After the diffolution of Abbies, they did not 
much advance the King's Supremacy, for they only 
car'd to Exclude the Pope, hence have we had several 
Tranflations of the Bible put upon us. But now we 
mult look to it, otherwife the King may put upon us 
what Religion he pleafes. 

4. 'Twas the old way when the King of England 
had his Houfe, there were Canons to ling Service in 
his Chappel ; fo at Wejlnmijler in St. Stephen's Chappel 
(where the Houfe of Commons fits) from which Canons 
the ftreet call'd Canon-row has its name, becaufe they 



62 TABLE-TALK. 

liv'd there, and he had alfo the Abbot and his Monks, 
and all thefe the King's Houfe. 

5. The Three Eftates are the Lords Temporal, the 
Bifhops are the Clergy, and the Commons, as fome 
would have it [take heed of that] for then if two agree 
the third is involv'd, but he is King of the Three 
Eftates. 

6. The King hath a Seal in every Court, and tho' 
the Great Seal be call'd Sigillum Anglice, the Great Seal 
of England, yet 'tis not becaufe 'tis the Kingdoms Seal, 
and not the Kings, but to diflinguifh it from Sigillum 
Hibernia, Sigillum Scotice. 

7. The Court of England is much alter'd. At a 
folemn Dancing, firfl you had the grave Meafures, 
then the Corrantoes and the Galliards, and this is kept 
up with Ceremony, at length to Erench-more, and the 
Cufhion-Dance, and then all the Company Dance, 
Lord and Groom, Lady and Kitchin-Maid, no dis- 
tinction. So in our Court in Queen Elizabeth's time 
Gravity and State were kept up. In King James's 
time things were pretty well. But in King Charles's 
time, there has been nothing but Erench-more and the 
Cufhion Dance, omnium gatherum, tolly, polly, hoite 
come toite. 

C^c Using. 

1 . ' r I * IS hard to make an accommodation between 
the King and the Parliament. If you and 
-*- I fell out out about Money, you faid I ow'd 
you twenty Pounds, I faid I ow'd you but ten Pounds, it 
may be a third Party allowing me twenty Marks, 
might make us Friends. But if I faid I ow'd you twenty 
Pounds in Silver, and you laid I ow'd you twenty 
pound of Diamonds, which is a fum innumerable, 'tis 
impoffible we mould ever agree, this is the cafe. 

2. The King ufing the Houfe of Commons, as he 
did in Mr. Pymm and his Company, that is charging 
them with Treafon, becaufe they charg'd my Lord of 
Canterbury and Sir George Ratclifj, it was juft with as 
much Logick as the Boy, that would have lain with his 



TABLE-TALK. 63 

Grandmother, us'd to his Father, you lay with my 
Mother, why mould not I lye with yours? 

3. There is not the fame reafon for the King's accus- 
ing Men of Treafon, and carrying them away, as there 
is for the Houfes themfelves, becaufe they accufe one 
of themfelves. For every one that is accufed, is either 
a Peer or a Commoner, and he that is accufed hath 
his Confent going along with him ; but if the King 
accufes, there is nothing of this in it. 

4. The King is equally abus'd now as before, then 
they flatter'd him and made him do ill things, now 7 
they would force him againft his Confcience. If a 
Phifician fhould tell me, every thing I had a mind to 
was good for me, tho' in truth 'twas Poifon, he abus'd 
me ; and he abufes me as much, that would force me to 
take fomething whether I will or no. 

5. The Kingfo long as he is our King, may do with 
his Officers what he pleafes, as the Mailer of the Houfe 
may turn away all his Servants, andtake whom he pleafe. 

6. The King's Oath is not fecurity enough for our 
Property, for he fwears to Govern according to Law ; 
now the Judges they interpret the Law, and what 
Judges can be made to do we know. 

7. The King and the Parliament now falling out, 
are juft as when there is foul Play offer'd amongil 
Gamefters, one matches the others flake, they feize 
what they can of one anothers. 'Tis not to be askt 
whether it belongs not to the King to do this or 
that; before when there was fair Play, it did. But 
now they will do what is moil convenient for their 
own fafety. If two fall to fcuffling, one tears the others 
Band, the other tears his, when they w r ere Friends they 
were quiet, and did no fuch thing, they let one an- 
others Bands alone. 

8. The King calling his Friends from the Parlia- 
ment, becaufe he had ufe of them at Oxford, is as if a 
man mould have ufe of a little piece of wood, and he 
runs down into the Cellar, and takes the Spiggott, in 
the mean time all the Beer runs about the Houfe, 
when his Friends are abfent the King will be loft. 



64 TABLE-TALK. 

lmt3T)te--JS5frbtce. 

i. T 7 Nights-Service in earnefl means nothing, for 
1^ the Lords are bound to wait upon the King 
■*■ ^- when he goes to War with a Foreign Enemy, 
with it may be One Man and One Horfe, and he that 
doth not, is to be rated fo much as fhall feem good to 
the next Parliament And what will that be ? So 
'tis for a private Man, that holds of a Gentleman. 

Earrtf. 

i. T T T Hen men did let their Land underfoot, 
V/V/ the Tenants would fight for their Land- 
* * lords, fo that way they had their Retribu- 
tion, but now they will do nothing for them, may be 
the firft, if but a Conflable bid them, that fhall lay the 
Landlord by the heels, and therefore 'tis vanity and 
folly not to take the full value. 

2. Allodium is a Law-word contrary to Feudum, and 
it fignifies Land that holds of no body, we have no 
fuch Land in England. Tis a true Propofition, all 
the Land in England is held, either immediately, or 
mediately of the King. 

Hariflttaae. 

i. r I ^O a living Tongue new words may be added, 
but not to a dead. Tongue, as Latine, Greek, 
-*- Hebrew, &*c. 

2. Latimer is the Corruption of Latiner, it fignifies 
he that interprets Latine, and though he interpreted 
French^ Spanijh, or Italian, he was call'd the King's 
Latiner, that is, the King's Interpreter. 

3. If you look upon the Language fpoken in the 
Saxon time, and the Language fpoken now, you will 
find the difference to be jufl, as if a man had a Cloak 
that he wore plain in Queen Elizabeth's days, and 
fince, here has put in a piece of Red, and there a piece 
of Blew, and here a piece of Green, and there a piece 
of Orange-tawny. We borow words from the French, 
Italian, Latine, as every Pedantick Man pleafes. 



TABLE-TALK. 65 

4. We have more words than Notions, half a dozen 
words for the fame thing. Sometime we put a new 
fignification to an old word, as when we call a Piece a 
Gun. The word Gun was in ufe in England for an 
Engine to caft a thing from a man, long before there 
was any Gun-powder found out. 

5. Words muft be fitted to a man's mouth ; 'twas 
well faid of the Fellow that was to make a Speech for 
my Lord Mayor, he defir'd to take meafure of his 
Lordfhips mouth. 

Eata. 
r, \ Man may plead not guilty, and yet tell no 
l\ Lye, for by the Law no Man is bound to 
■*■ *- accufe himfelf, fo that when I fay Not 
guilty, the meaning is, as if I fhould fay by way of 
Paraphrafe, I am Not fo guilty as to tell you ; if you 
will bring me to a Tryal, and have me punifht for this 
you lay to my Charge, prove it againft me. 

2. Ignorance of the Law excufes no man, not that 
all Men know the Law, but becaufe 'tis an excufe every 
man will plead, and no man can tell how to confute him. 

3. The King of Spain was out-law'd in Wejiminjler- 
Hall, I being of Council againft him. A Merchant 
had recover'd Cofts againft him in a Suit, which becaufe 
he could not get, we advis'd to have him Out-law'd for 
not appearing, and fo he was. As foon as Gondimer 
heard that, he prefently fent the money, by reafon, if 
his Mafter had been Out-law'd he could not have the 
benefit of the Law, which would have been very pre- 
judicial, there being then many fuits depending be- 
twixt the King of Spain and our Englifh Merchants. 

4. Every Law is a Contract, between the King and 
the People, and therefore to be kept. An hundred 
men may owe me an hundred pounds, as well 'as any 
one man, and mall they not pay me becaufe they are 
ftronger than I ? Objett. Oh but they lofe all if they 
keep that Law. Anfw. Let them look to the making 
of their Bargain. If I fell my Lands, and when I 
have done, one comes and tells me I have nothing elfe 
to keep me. I and my Wife and Children mufl ftarve, 

E 



66 



TABLE-TALK. 



if I part with my Land. Muft I not therefore let them 
have my Land that have bought it and paid for it ? 

5. The Parliament may declare Law, as well as any 
other inferiour Court may, (viz.) the Kings Bench. In 
that or this particular Cafe the Kings Bench will 
declare unto you what the Law is, but that binds 
no body whom the Cafe concerns : So the highefl 
Court, the Parliament may doe, but not declare Law, 
that is, make Law that was never heard of before. 



I 



JLafo of Mature. 

Cannot fancy to my felf what the Law of 
Nature means, but the Law of God. How 
mould I know I ought not to ileal, I ought 
not to commit Adultery, unlefs fome body had told me 
fo ? Surely 'tis becaufe I have been told fo ? Tis 
not becaufe I think I ought not to do them, nor be- 
caufe you think I ought not ; if fo, our minds might 
change, whence then comes the reftraint? from a 
higher Power, nothing elfe can bind. I cannot bind 
my felf, for I may untye my felf again ; nor an equal 
cannot bind me, for we may untie one another. It 
muft be a fuperiour Power, even God Almighty. If 
two of us make a Bargain, why mould either of us fland 
to it ? What need you care what you fay, or what 
need I care what I fay ? Certainly becaufe there is 
fomething about me that tells me Fides ejl fervanda, 
and if we after alter our minds, and make a new Bar- 
gain, there's Fides fervanda there too. 



W 



JUanuttg. 

man is the wifer for his Learning, it may 
Adminifter matter to work in, or Objects to 
work upon, but Wit and Wifdom are born 
with a Man. 

2. Mofl mens Learning is nothing but Hiftory duly 
taken up. If I quote Thomas Aquinus for fome Tenet 
and believe it, becaufe the Schoolmen fay fo, that is 
but Hiftory. Few men make themfelves Mailers of 
the things they write or fpeak. 



TABLE-TALK. 67 

3. The Jefuits and the Lawyers of France, and the 
Low-Country-men have engroffed all Learning. The 
reft of the world make nothing but Homilies. 

4. Tis obfervable, that in Athens where the Arts 
flourifht, they were govern'd by a Democrafie, Learn- 
ing made them think themfelves as wife as any body, 
and they would govern as well as others ; and they 
fpake as it were by way of Contempt, that in the 
Eajl and in the North they had Kings, and why? 
Becaufe the moft part of them follow'd their bufinefs, 
and if fome one man had made himfelf wifer than the 
reft, he govern'd them, and they willingly fubmitted 
themfelves to him. Arijiotle makes the Obfervation. 
And as in Athens the Philofophers made the People 
knowing, and therefore they thought themfelves wife 
enough to govern, fo does preaching with us, and that 
makes us affect- a Democrafie : For upon thefe two 
grounds we all w T ould be Governours, either becaufe we 
think our felves as wife as the beft, or becaufe we think 
our felves the Elect, and have the Spirit, and the reft a 
Company of Reprobates that belong to the Devil. 

2Uctttrer£. 

1. T Ecturers do in a Parifh Church what the 
Fryers did heretofore, get away not only the 
-* — ' Affections, but the Bounty, that fhould be 
beftow'd upon the Minifter. 

2. Lecturers get a great deal of money, becaufe they 
preach the People tame [as a man watches a Hawk] 
and then they do what they lift with them. 

3. The Lectures in Black Fryers, perform'd by 
Officers of the Army, Trades-men, and Minifters, is as 
if a great Lord fhould make a Feaft, and he would 
have his Cook drefs one Difh, and his Coachman 
another, his Porter a third, &c. 

1 . 'nr^HO' fome make flight of Libels, yet you may 

fee by them how the wind fits : As take a 

-*- ftraw and throw it up into the Air, you 

fhall fee by that which way the Wind is, which you 



68 TABLE-TALK. 

fhall not do by calling up a Stone. More folid things 
do not fhow the Complexion ot the times fo well, as 
Ballads and Libels. 

Etturflj). 

i. r I ^Here is no Church without a Liturgy, nor 
indeed can there be conveniently, as there 
-"- is no School without a Grammar. One 
Scholar may be taught otherwife upon the Stock ot 
his Acumen, but not a whole School. One or two 
that are pioully difpos'd, may ferve themfelves their 
own way, but hardly a whole Nation. 

2. To know what was generally believ'd in all 
Ages, the way is to confult the Liturgies, not any 
private man's writing. As if you would know how 
the Church of England ferve s God. Go to the Common 
prayer-Book, confult not this nor that man. Befides 
Liturgies never Complement, nor ufe high Expreffions. 
The Fathers oft-times fpeak Oratorioufly. 

Eortrg m tfje Parliament. 

i . r I ^ HE Lords giving Protections is a fcorn upon 
them. A Protection means nothing actively, 
-*" but paffively, he that is a Servant to a 
Parliament man is thereby Protected. What a fcorn 
is it to a perfon of Honour to put his hand to two 
Lyes at once, that fuch a man is my Servant, and 
imployed by me, when haply he never faw the man 
in his life, nor before never heard of him. 

2. The Lords protefling is foolifh. To proteft is 
properly to fave to a man's felf fome right. But to 
protefl as the Lords proteft, when they their felves 
are involv'd, 'tis no more than if I fhould go into 
Smith field, and fell my Horfe, and take the money, 
and yet when I have your Money, and you my Horfe, 
I fhould protefl this Horfe is mine, becaufe I love 
the Horfe, or I do not know why I do protefl, becaufe 
my Opinion is contrary to the reft. Ridiculous, when 
they fay the Bifhops did antiently proteft, it was only 
diffenting, and that in the cafe of the Pope. 



TABLE-TALK. 69 

£0rtf£ before tTjc parliament 
j. f^ Reat Lords by reafon of their Flatterers, 
I -w- are the. firfl that know their own Vertues, 
^-^ and the laft that know their own Vices ; 
Some of them are afham'd upwards, becaufe their 
Anceflors were too great. Others are afham'd down- 
wards, becaufe they were too little. 

2. The Priour of Stjb/m of Jerufalem is faid to be 
Primus Baro Anglice, the firfl Baron of England, 
becaufe being laft of the Spiritual Barons, he chofe to 
be firfl of the Temporal. He was a kind of an Otter, 
a Knight half-Spiritual, and half-Temporal. 

3. Qiiejl. Whether is every Baron a Baron of some place? 
Anfw. 'Tis according to his Patent, of late years 

they have been made Baron of fome place, but 
antiently not, call'd only by their Sir-name, or the Sir- 
name of fome Family, into which they have been married. 

4. The making of new Lords leffens all the reft. 
'Tis in the bufmefs of Lords, as 'twas with St. Nicholas's 
Image ; the Countryman, you know, could not find in 
his heart to adore the new Image, made of his own 
Plumb-Tree, though he had formerly Worfhip'd the 
old one. The Lords that are antient we honour, 
becaufe we know not whence they come, but the new 
ones we flight, becaufe we know their beginning. 

5. For the Irijh Lords to take upon them here in 
England; is as if the Cook in the Fair fhould come to 
my Lady Kents kitchen, and take upon him to roaft the 
meat there, becaufe he is a Cook in another place. 

j&arrtase. 

1. /^\F all Actions of a man's life, his Marriage 
I I does leafl concern other people, yet of 
^-^ all Actions of our Life, 'tis moft medled 

with by other people. 

2. Marriage is nothing but a Civil Contract., 'tis true 
'tis an Ordinance of God : fo is every other Contract,. 
God commands me to keep it when I have made it. 

3. Marriage is a defperate thing, the Frogs in ALfop 
were extream wife, they had a great mind to fome 



70 TABLE-TALK. 

water, but they would not leap into the Well, becaufe 
they could not get out again. 

4. We fingle out particulars, and apply Gods Pro- 
vidence to them, thus when two are marry'd and have 
undone one another, they cry it was God's Providence 
we mould come together, when God's Providence does 
equally concurr to every thing. 

JHarrtage nf C0u£tti«®ermaiitf. 
1. r~^ Ome men forbear to Marry Coufm-Germans 
^^ out of this kind of fcruple of Confcience, 
^ — ^ becaufe it was unlawful before the Refor- 
mation, and is ftill in the Church of Rome. And fo 
by reafon their Grandfather, or their great Grand- 
father did not do it, upon that old Score they think 
they ought not to do it ; as fome men forbear flefh 
upon Friday, not reflecting upon the Statute, which 
with us makes it unlawful, but out of an old Score, 
becaufe the Church of Rome forbids it, and their 
Fore-fathers always forbore flefh upon that day. 
Others forbear it out of a Natural Confideration, be- 
caufe it is obferv'd (for Example) in Beafts, if two 
couple of a near kind, the breed proves not fo good ; 
The fame obfervation they make in Plants and Trees, 
which degenerate being grafted upon the fame Stock. 
And 'tis alfo further obferv'd, thole Matches between 
Coufm Germans feldom prove fortunate. But for the 
lawfulnefs there is no colour but Coufm-Germans in 
Englaiid may marry, both by the Law of God and man : 
for with us we have reduc'd all the degrees of Mar- 
riage to thofe in the Levitical Law, and 'tis plain there's 
nothing againft it. As for that that is faid Coufin- 
Germans once remov'd may not Marry, and therefore 
being a further degree may not, 'tis prefumed a nearer 
fhould not, no man can tell what it means. 

$ta£tire of Erjtng^. 

1. "T T 7E meafure from our felves, and as things 

Y/\/ are for our ufe and purpofe, fo we ap- 

* * prove them ; bring a Pear to the Table 

that is rotten, we cry it down, 'tis naught ; but bring 



TABLE-TALK. <;i 

a Medlar that is rotten, and 'tis a fine thing, and yet 
I'le warrant you the Pear thinks as well of it felf as 
the Medlar does. 

2. We meafure the Excellency of other men, by 
fome Excellency we conceive to be in our iclves. 
NaJJi a Poet, poor enough (as Poets us'd to be) feeing 
an Alderman with his Gold Chain, upon his great 
Horfe, by way of fcorn faid to one of his Companions, 
do you fee yon fellow, how goodly, how big he looks, 
why that fellow cannot make a blank Verfe. 

3. Nay we meafure the goodnefs of God from our 
felves, we meafure his Goodnefs, his Juftice, his Wif- 
dom, by fomething we call juft, good, or wife in our 
felves ; and in fo doing we judge proportionably to 
the Country fellow in the Play, who faid if he were a 
King, he would live like a Lord, and have Peafe and 
Bacon every day, and a Whip that cry'd Slafh. 

BiKzxcixtt af fflzn. 

1 . r I ^ HE difference of men is very great, you would 
fcarce think them to be of the fame Spe- 
•** cies, and yet it confifts more in the Affection 
than in the Intellect. For as in the ftrength of Body, 
two men fhall be of an equal ftrength, yet one fhall 
appear ftronger than the other, because he exercifes, 
and puts out his ftrength, the other will not flir nor 
ftrain himfelf. So 'tis in the ftrength of the Brain, 
the one endeavours, and ftrains, and labours, and 
ftudies, the other fits ftill, and is idle, and takes no 
pains, and therefore he appears fo much the inferiour. 

lEtmteter SBtbme. 

1. r I ^HEimpofition of hands upon the Minifler when 
all is done, will be nothing but a defignation 
-*- of a Perfon to this or that Office or Employ- 
ment in the Church. Tis a ridiculous Phrafe that of the 
Canonifts \Conferre Ordines\ 'Tis Ccaptare aliquem in 
Ordi?iem, to make a man one of us, one of our Number, 
one of our Order. So Cicero would underftand what I 
faid, it being a Phrafe borrow'd from the Latines, and 



72 TABLE-TALK. 

to be underflood proportionably to what was amongft 
them. 

2. Thofe words you now ufe in making a Minifter 
[receive the Holy GhoJl\ were us'd amongft the Jews in 
making of a Lawyer, from thence we have them, which 
is a villanous key to fomething, as if you would have 
fome other kind of Prsefeture, than a Mayoralty, and 
yet keep the fame Ceremony that was us'd in making 
the Mayor. 

3. A Prieft has no fuch thing as an indelible Cha- 
racter, what difference do you find betwixt him and 
another man after Ordination? only he is made a 
Prieft, (as I faid) by Defignation : as a Lawyer is 
call'd to the Bar, then made a Serjeant; all men that 
would get power over others, make themfelves as unlike 
them as they can, upon the fame ground the Priefts 
made themfelves unlike the Laity. 

4. A Minifter when he is made is Materia prima, 
apt for any form the State will put upon him, but of 
himfelf he can do nothing. Like a Doctor of Law in 
the Univerfity, he hath a great deal of Law in him, 
but cannot ufe it till he be made fome bodies Chan- 
cellour ; or like a Phyfician, before he be receiv'd into 
a houfe, he can give no body Phyfick ; indeed after 
the Mailer of the houfe hath given him charge of his 
Servants, then he may. Or like a Suffragan, that could 
do nothing but give Orders, and yet he was no Bifhop. 

5. A Minifter fhould preach according to the Arti- 
cles of Religion Eftablifhed in the Church where he is. 
To be a Civil Lawyer let a man read Justinian, and 
the Body of the Law, to confirm his Brain to that way, 
but when he comes to practice, he mufl make ufe of 
it fo far as it concerns the Law received in his own 
Country. To be a Phyfician let a Man read Gallen 
and Hypocrates ; but when he practices, he mufl apply 
his Medicins according to the Temper of thofe Mens 
Bodies with whom he lives, and have refpect to the 
heat and cold of Climes, otherwife that which in Fer- 
gamus (where Gallen liv'd) was Phyfick, in our cold 
Climate may be Poifon. So to be a Divine, let him 



TABLE-TALK. 73 

read the whole Body of Divinity, the Fathers and the 
Schoolmen, but when he comes to practice, he m'uft 
ufe it and apply it according to thofe Grounds and 
Articles of Religion that are eftablifh'd in the Church, 
and this with fence. 

6. There be four things a Minifter mould be at, the 
Confcionary part, Ecclefiaftical ftory, School Divinity, 
and the Cafuifts. 

r. In the Confcionary part he muft read all the 
Chief Fathers, both Latine and Greek wholly. St. 
Auflin, St. Ambrofe, St. Chryfojlome, both the Grego- 
rys, &c. Tertidlian, Clemens, Alexandrinus, and Epi- 
phanins, which laft have more Learning in them than 
all the reft, and writ freely. 

2. For Ecclefiaftical ftory let him read Baronius, 
with the Magdefatrgenfes, and be his own Judge, the 
one being extreamly for the Papifts, the other ex- 
treamly againft them. 

3. For School Divinity let him get Javellus's Edi- 
tion of Scotus or Mayco, where there be Quotations 
that direct you to every Schoolman, where fuch and 
fuch queftions are handled. Without School-Divinity 
a Divine knows nothing Logically, nor will be able to 
fatisfie a rational man out of the Pulpit. 

4. The Study of the Cafuifts mull follow the Study 
of the School-men, becaufe the divifion of their Cafes 
is according to their Divinity, otherwife he that begins 
with them will know little. As he that begins with 
the ftudy of the Reports and Cafes in the Common 
Law, will thereby know little of the Law. Cafuifts 
may be of admirable ufe, if difcreetly dealt with, tho' 
among them you fhall have many leaves together very 
impertinent. A Cafe well decided would flick by 
a man, they would remember it whether they will 
or no, whereas a quaint pofition dieth in the Birth. 
The main thing is to know where to fearch, for talk 
what they will of vaft memories, no man will prefume 
upon his own memory for any thing he means to write 
or fpeak in publick. 

7. [Go and teach all Nat ions.] This was laid to all 



74 TABLE-TALK. 

Chriftians that then were, before the diflinclion of 
Clergy and Laity ; there have been fmce Men defign'd 
to Preach only by the State, as fome Men are defign'd 
to ftuddy the Law, others to ftuddy Phyfick. When 
the Lord's Supper was inftituted, there were none 
prefent but the Difciples, fhall none then but Minifters 
receive ? 

8. There is all the Reafon you fhould believe your 
Minifter, unlefs you have fluddied Divinity as well as 
he, or more than he. 

9. 'Tis a foolifh thing to fay Minifters muft not 
meddle with Secular Matters, becaufe his own pro- 
feffion will take up the whole Man ; may he not eat, 
or drink, or walk, or learn to ling ? the meaning of 
that is, he muft feriouily attend his Calling. 

10. Minifters with the Papifts [that is their Priefls] 
have much refpect, with the Puritans they have much, 
and that upon the fame ground, they pretend both of 
'em to come immediately from Chrift; but with the 
Proteftants they have very little, the reafon whereof is, 
in the beginning of the Reformation they were glad to 
get fuch to take Livings as they could procure by any 
Invitations, things of pitiful condition. The Nobility 
and Gentry would not fuffer their Sons or Kindred to 
meddle with the Church, and therefore at this day, 
when they fee a Parfon, they think him to be fuch 
a thing ftill, and there they will keep him, and ufe him 
accordingly; if he be a Gentleman, that is fmgled out, 
and he is us'd the more refpeclfully. 

11. The Proteftant Minifter is leafl regarded, 
appears by the old ftory of the Keeper of the Clink. 
He had Priefts of feveral forts fent unto him, as they 
came in, he ask'd them who they were ; who are you 
to the firft ? I am a Priefl of the Church of Rome ; you 
are welcome quoth the Keeper, there are thofe will 
take care of you. And who are you? A filens'd 
Minifter. You are welcome too, I fhall fare the better 
for you ? And who are you ? A Minifter of the 
Church of England. O God help me (quoth the 
Keeper) I fhall get nothing by you, I am fure you 



TABLE-TALK. 75 

may lye and flarve, and rot, beiore any body will look 
after you. 

12. Methinks 'tis an ignorant thing for a Church- 
man, to call himfelf the Minifter of Chrift, becaufe St. 
Paid, or the Apoftles call'd themfelves fo. If one 
of them had a Voice from Heav'n, as St. Paul had, 
I will grant he is a Minifter of Chrift, I will call him 
fo too. Mult they take upon them as the Apoftles 
did ? Can they do as the Apoftles could ? The 
Apoftles had a Mark to be known by, fpake Tongues, 
Cur'd Difeafes, trod upon Serpents, &c. Can they do 
chis ? If a Gentleman tells me, he will fend his Man 
to me, and I did not know his Man, but he gave me 
this Mark to know him by, he mould bring in his hand 
a rich Jewel; if a fellow came to me with a pebble - 
Stone, had I any reafon to believe he was the Gentle- 
man's man ? 

i. "\ /T Oney makes a man laugh. A blind Fidler 
Y/l playing to a Company, and playing but 
■** " -*- fcurvily, the Company laught at him ; His 
Boy that led him, perceiving it, cry'd, Father let us be 
gone, they do nothing but laugh at you. Hold thy 
peace, Boy, faid the Fidler, we mall have their money 
prefently, and then we will laugh at them. 

2. Eudide was beaten in Boccaline, for teaching his 
Scholars a Mathematical Figure in his School, whereby 
he fhew'd, that all the Lives both of Princes and 
private Men tended to one Centre, Con Ge?itilizza, 
handfomly to get money out of other mens pockets, 
and it into their own. 

3. The Pope us'd heretofore to fend the Princes of 
Chriftendom to fight againft the Turk, but Prince and 
Pope finely Juggl'd together, the Moneys were rais'd, 
and fome men went out to the Holy War, but com- 
monly after they had got the money, the Turk was 
pretty quiet, and the Prince and the Pope fhar'd it be- 
tween them. 

4. In all times the Princes in England have done 
fomething illegal, to get money. But then came 



75 TABLE-TALK. 

a Parliament and all was well, the People and the 
Prince kill and were Friends, and fo things were quiet 
for a while ; afterwards there was another trick found 
out to get money, and after they had got it, another 
Parliament was call'd to fet all right, <W. But now 
they have fo out-run the Conftable ; 

jfloral ^0ne£tg. 
i. ,r ~T~"MIey that cry down Moral-honefty, cry down 
that which is a great part of Religion, my 
-*■ Duty towards God, and my Duty towards 
man. What care I to fee a man run after a Sermon, 
if he Couzen and Cheats as foon as he comes 
home. On the other fide Morality mult not be 
without Religion, for if fo, it may change, as I 
fee convenience. Religion mufl govern it. He that 
has not Religion to govern his Morality, is not 
a Dram better than my Maftiff-Dogg ; fo long as 
you ftroak him and pleafe him, and do not pinch 
him, he will play with you as finely as may be, he is a 
very good Moral-MaftirT, but if you hurt him, he will 
fly in your Face, and tear out your Throat. 

i. T N Cafe I receive a thoufand pounds, and 
Mortgage as much Land as is worth two thou- 
-■- fand to you, if I do not pay the Money at fuch 
a day, I fail, whether you may take my Land and keep 
it in point of Confcience ? Anfiv. If you had my 
Lands as fecurity only for your Money, then you are 
not to keep it, but if we bargain'd fo, that if I did not 
repay your iooo/. my Land fhould go for it, be it what 
it will, no doubt you may with a fafe Confcience keep 
it; for in these things all the Obligation is Servare 
Fidetn. 

r. \ LL thofemifterious things they obfer vein num- 

Z-\ bers, come to nothing, upon this very ground, 

■^ ■*- becaufe number in it felf is nothing, has not 

to do with Nature, but is meerly of Human Impofition, 



TABLE-TALK. 77 

a meer found. For Example, when I cry one a Clock, 
two a Clock, three a Clock, that is but Man's divifion of 
time, the time it felf goes on, and it had been all one 
in Nature if thofe Hours had been call'd nine, ten, 
and eleven. So when they fay the Seventh Son is 
Fortunate, it means nothing ; for if you count from the 
feventh back-wards, then the firfl is the seventh, why 
is not he likewife Fortunate ? 

i. r~~^ Wearing was another thing with the Jews than 
^^ with us, becaufe they might, not pronounce 
^— ^ the Name of the Lord Jehovah. 

2. There is no Oath fcarcely, but we fwear to things 
we are ignorant of: For Example, the Oath of Supre- 
macy : how many know how the King is King ? what 
are his Right and Prerogative ? So how many know 
what are the Priviledges of the Parliament, and the 
Liberty of the Sub j eel, when they take the proteliation? 
But the meaning is, they will defend them when they 
know them. As if I mould fwear I would take part 
with all that wear Red Ribbons in their Hats, it may 
be I do not know which colour is Red ; but when I 
do know, and fee a Red Ribbon in a Man's Hat, then 
will I take his part. 

3. I cannot conceive how an Oath is impofed, where 
there is a Parity (viz.) in the Houfe of Commons, they 
are dl\ pares inter fe, only one brings Paper, and fhews 
it the reft, they look upon it, and in their own Sence 
take it : Now they are hut pares to me, who am none 
of the Houfe, for I do not acknowledge my felf their 
Subject, if I did, then no queftion, I was bound by an 
Oath of their impofing. Tis to me but reading a 
Paper in their own Sence. 

4. There is a great difference between an Affertory 
Oath and a Promiffary Oath. An Affertory Oath is 
made to a Man before God, and I muft fwear fo, as 
man may know what I mean : But a Promiffary Oath 
is made to God only, and I am fure he knows my 
meaning : So in the new Oath it runs [whereas I be- 



7 3 TABLE TALK. 

lieve in my Confidence, 6°<r. I will affift thus and thus] 
that [whereas] gives me an Outloofe, for if I do not 
believe fo, for ought I know, I fwear not at all. 

5. In a Promiffary Oath, the mind I am in is a good 
Interpretation, for if there be enough hapned to 
change my mind, I do not know why I mould not. 
If I promife to go to Oxford to-morrow, and mean it 
when I fay it, and afterwards it appears to me, that 
'twill be my undoing, will you fay I have broke my 
Promife if I flay at home ? certainly I muft not go. 

6. The Jews had this way with them concerning a 
\ Promiffary Oath or Vow, if one of them had vow'd a 

vow, which afterwards appear' d to him to be very pre- 
judicial byreafon of fomething he either did not forefee, 
or did not think of, when he made his Vow; if he made 
it known to three of his Country-men, they had power 
to abfolve him, though he could not abfolve himfelf, 
and that they pickt out of fome words in the Text : 
Perjury hath only to do with an Affertory Oath, and no 
man was punifht for Perjury by man's Law till Queen 
Elizabeth's time, 'twas left to God, as a fin againft him, 
the Reafon was, becaufe 'twas fo hard a thing to prove 
a man perjur'd : I might mifunderftand him, and he 
fwears as he thought. 

7. When men ask me whether they may take an Oath 
in their own Senfe, 'tis to me, as if they fhould ask 
whether they may go to fuch a place upon their own 
Legs, I would fain know how they can go otherwife. 

8. If the Minifters that are in fequeftred Livings will 
not take the Engagement, threaten to turn them out 
and put in the old ones, and then I'le warrant you they 
will quietly take it. A Gentleman having been ram- 
bling two or three days, at length came home, and 
being in Bed with his Wife, would fain have been at 
fomething, that fhe was unwilling to, and inftead of 
complying, fell to chiding him for his being abroad fo 
long : Well fays he, if you will not, call up Sue (his 
Wife's Chambermaid) upon that fhe yielded prefently. 

9. Now Oaths are fo frequent, they fhould be taken 
like Pills, fwallow'd whole : If you chew them you will 



TABLE-TALK. 79 

find them bitter : If you think what you fwear 'twill 

hardly go down. 

Orarte& 

i . f\ Racles ceas'd prefently after Chrifl, as foon as 
I 1 nobody believ'd them. Jufl as we have no 
^— ' Fortune-Tellers, nor Wife-Men, when no 

body cares for them. Sometime you have a Seafon 

for them, when People believe them, and neither of 

thefe, I conceive, wrought by the Devil. 

i. S^\ Pinion and Affection extreamly differ ; I may 
I 1 affect a Woman bell, but it does not follow 
^— * I muft think her the Handfomefl Woman 
in the World. I love Apples the befl of any Fruit, 
but it does not follow, I muft think Apples to be the 
befl Fruit. Opinion is fomething wherein I go about 
to give Reafon why all the World fhould think as I 
think. Affection is a thing wherein I look after the 
pleafmg of my felf. 

2. 'Twas a good Fancy of an old Platonick : The 
Gods which are above men, had fomething whereof 
Man did partake, [an Intellect Knowledge] and the 
Gods kept on their courfe quietly. The Beafts, which 
are below man, had fomething whereof Man did par- 
take, [Sence and Growth,] and the Beafts liv'd quietly 
in their way. But Man had fomething in him, whereof 
neither Gods nor Beafts did partake, which gave him 
all the Trouble, and made all the Confufion in the 
world, and that is Opinion. 

3. 'Tis a foolifh thing for me to be brought off from 
an Opinion in a thing neither of us know, but are led 
only by fome Cobweb-stuff, as in fuch a cafe as this, 
TJtrum Angeli in vicem colloqua?itur ? if I forfake my 
fide in fuch a cafe, I fhew my felf wonderful light, or 
infinitely complying, or flattering the other party. 
But if I be in a bufmefs of Nature, and hold an Opinion 
one way, and fome man's Experience has found out 
the contrary, I mav with a fafe Reputation give up my 
fide. 



80 TABLE-TALK. 

4. 'Tis a vain thing to talk of an Heretick, for a 
man for his heart can think no otherwife than he does 
think. In the Primitive times there were many Opin- 
ions, nothing fcarce but fome or other held : One of 
thefe Opinions being embrac'd by fome Prince, and 
received into his Kingdom, the reft were Condemn'd as 
Herefies, and his Religion which was but one of the 
feveral Opinions, firft is faid to be Orthodox, and fo have 
continu'd ever fmce the Apoftles. 

Parttg. 

1. r I ^His is the juggling trick of the Parity, they 
would have no body above them, but they 
-*- do not tell you they would have no body 
under them. 

Parliament. 
1. A LI, are involved in a Parliament. There was 
/-\ a time when all Men had their voice in 
*** ■*■ choofmg Knights. About He?iry the Sixth's 
time they found the inconvenience, fo one Parliament 
made a Law, that only he that had forty Shillings per 
annum fhould give his voice, they under mould be 
excluded. They made the Law who had the voice of 
all, as well under forty Shillings as above ; and thus it 
continues at this day. All confent civilly to a Parlia- 
ment, Women are involv'd in the Men, Children in 
thofe of perfect age, thofe that are under forty Shillings 
a year, in thofe that have forty Shillings a year, thofe 
of forty Shillings in the Knights. 

2. All things are brought to the Parliament, little 
to the Courts of Juftice; juft as in a room where there 
is a Banquet presented, if there be Perfons of Quality 
there, the People muft expect, and flay till the great 
ones have done. 

3. The Parliament flying upon feveral Men, and 
then letting them alone, does as a Hawk that flyes a 
Covey of Partridges, and when fhe has flown them a 
great way, grows weary and takes a Tree ; then the 
Faulconer lures her down, and takes her to his fift : on 
they go again, hei rett, up springs another Covey, away 



TABLE-TALK. 81 

goes the Hawk, and as fhe did before, takes another 
Tree. &>c. 

4. Diffenters in Parliament may at length come to a 
good end, tho' firft there be a great deal of do, and a 
great deal of noife, which mad wild folks make ; juft 
as in brewing of Wrefl-Beer, there's a great deal of 
bufmefs in grinding the Mault, and that fpoils any 
Maiis cloaths that comes near it; then it muft be 
mafli'd, then comes a Fellow in and drinks of the 
Wort, and he's drunk, then they keep a huge quarter 
when they carry it into the Cellar, and a twelve month 
after 'tis delicate fine Beer. 

5. It muft neceffarily be that our Diftempers are 
worfe than they were in the beginning of the Parlia- 
ment. If a Phifician comes to a fick Man, he lets 
him blood, it may be fcarifyes him, cups him, puts him 
into a great diforder, before he makes him well ; and 
if he be fent for to cure an Ague, and he finds his 
Patient hath many difeafes, a Dropfie, and a Pallie, he 
applies remedies to 'em all, which makes the cure the 
longer and the dearer : this is the cafe. 

6. The Parliament-men are as great Princes as any 
in the World, when whatfoever they pleafe is Priviledge 
of Parliament ; no man muft know the number of their 
Priviledges, and whatfoever they difiike is breach of 
Priviledge. The Duke of Venice is no more than 
Speaker of the Houfe of Commons ; but the Senate 
at Venice, are not fo much as our Parliament-men, nor 
have they that power over the People, who yet exer- 
cife the greateft Tyranny that is anywhere. In plain 
truth, breach of Priviledge is only the actual taking 
away of a Member of the Houfe, the reft are Offences 
againft the Houfe. For example, to take out Procefs 
againfl a Parliament-man, or the like. 

7. The Parliament-party, if the Law be for them, 
they call for the Law ; if it be againft them, they will 
go to a Parliamentary way ; if no Law be for them, 
then for Law again : Like him that firfl call'd for Sack- 
to heat him, then fmall Drink to cool his Sack, then 
Sack again to heat his fmall Drink, &*c. 

F 



S2 TABLE-TALK. 

8. The Parliament-party do not play fair play, in 
fitting up till two of the Clock in the Morning, to vote 
fomething they have a mind to. 'Tis like a crafty 
Gamefter that makes the Company drunk, then cheats 
them of their Money. Young men and infirm men go 
away ; befides, a man is not there to perfwade other 
men to be of his Mind, but to fpeak his own Heart, and 
if it be lik'd, fo, if not, there's an end. 

Pardon. 

i . r | ^ Hough we write [Parfon] differently, yet 'tis 
but Perfon ; that is, the individual perfon 
-*- fet apart for the fervice of fuch a Church, 
and 'tis in Latin fierfo?ia, 2ca&Perfonatus is a Perfonage. 
Indeed with the Canon Lawyers, Perfo?iatus is any 
Dignity or Preferment in the Church. 

2. There never was a merry World fmce the Faries 
left Dancing, and the Parson left Conjuring. The 
Opinion of the latter kept Thieves in awe, and did as 
much good in a Country as a Juftice of Peace. 

Patient*. 

i . I \ Atience is the chiefeft fruit of Study, a man 
\^ that drives to make himfelf a different thing 
-**- from other men by much reading, gains 
this chiefeft good, that in all Fortunes he hath fome- 
thing to entertain and comfort himfelf withal 1. 

\BtKtt. 

i. T 7 Ing fames was pictur'd going eafily down a 
l^ pair of Stairs, and upon every ftep there 
-*- ^ was writen, Peace, Peace, Peace ; the 

wifeft way for men in thefe times is to fay nothing 

2. When a Country-wench cannot get her Butter to 
come, fhe fays, The Witch is in her Churn. We have 
been churning for Peace a great while, and 'twill not 
come, fure the Witch is in it. 

3. Though we had Peace, yet 'twill be a great while 
e're things be fettled : Tho' the Wind lye, yet after a 
Storm the Sea will work a great while. 



TABLE-TALK. S3 

Penance. 

r. T^\Enance is only the Punifhment inflicted, not 
\^ Penitence, which is the right word ; a man 
-*- comes not to do Penance, becaufe he 
repents him of his Sin, but becaufe he is compell'd to 
it ; he curfes him, and could kill him that fends him 
thither. The old Canons wifely enjoyn'd three years 
Penance, fometimes more, becaufe in that time a man 
got a habit of Vertue, and fo committed that fin no 
more, for which he did Penance. 

People. 
1. r I ^Here is not any thing in the World more 
abus'd than this Sentence, Salus populi 
-*- fuprema Lex efto, for we apply it, as if 
we ought to forfake the known Law, when it may be 
moft for the advantage of the people, when it means 
no fuch thing. For firft, 'tis not Salus populi fuprema 
Lex eft, but efto, it being one of the Laws of the twelve 
Tables, and after divers Laws made, fome for Punifh- 
ment, fome for Reward, then follows this, Salus populi 
fuprema L,ex efto : that is, in all the Laws you make, 
have a fpecial eye to the good of the people, and then 
what does this concern the way they now go ? 

2. Objeclion, He that makes one, is greater than he 
that is made • the People make the King, ergo, &c. 

Anfw. This does not hold, for if I have 1000/ 
per Annum, and give it you and leave my felf ne're a 
penny, I made you, but when you have my Land, you 
are greater than I. The Parifh makes the Conftable, 
and when the Conftable is made, he governs the Parish. 
The anfwer to all thefe Doubts is, Have you agreed fo ? 
if you have, then it mufl remain till you have alter'd it. 

Pleasure. 

Leafure is nothing elfe but the intermiflion 

of pain, the enjoying of fome thing I am in 

great trouble for 'till I have it. 

2. 'Tis a wrong way to proportion other mens plea- 

iures to ourfelves; 'tis like a Child's ufmg a little Bird 

[O poor Bird thou fhalt fleep with me] fo lays it in his 

Bofome, and ftifles it with his hot breath, the Bird had 



84 "TABLE-TALK. 

rather be in the cold Air : And yet too 'tis the mofl 
pleafmg flattery, to like what other men like. 

3. 'Tis moll undoubtedly true, that all men are 
equally given to their pleafure, only thus, one mans 
pleafure lyes one way, and anothers another. Plea- 
fures are all alike, limply confidered in themfelves, he 
that hunts, or he that governs the Common-wealth, 
they both pleafe themfelves alike, only we commend 
that, whereby we our felves receive fome benefit. As 
if a man place his delight in things that tend to the 
common good, he that takes pleafure to hear Sermons, 
enjoys himfelf as much as he that hears Plays, and 
could he that loves Plays endeavour to love Sermons, 
poffibly he might bring himfelf to it as well as to any 
other Pleafure. At firfl it may feem harfh and tedious, 
but afterwards 'twould be pleafmg and delightful. 
So it falls out in that, which is the great pleafure of 
fome men, Tobacco, at firfl they could not abide it, 
and now they cannot be without it. 

4. Whilft you are upon Earth enjoy the good things 
that are here (to that end were they given) and be not 
melancholly, and wifh yourfelf in Heaven. If a King 
fhould give you the keeping of a Caftle, with all 
things belonging to it, Orchards, Gardens, &>c, and 
bid you ufe them ; withal promife you that after twenty 
years to remove you to Court, and to make you a 
Privy Councellor. If you fhould neglect your Caftle, 
and refufe to eat of thofe fruits, and fit down, and 
whine, and wifh you were a Privy Councellor, do you 
think the King would be pleafed with you ? 

5. Pleafures of Meat, Drink, Cloaths, Grc, are for- 
bidden thofe that know not how to ufe them, just as 
Nurfes cry pah ! when they fee a Knife in a Childs 
hand, they will never fay any thing to a man. 

Pl)tl050p1)g. 

1. "T T J Hen Men comfort themfelves with Philofo- 
VV P n ^' '^ s not becaufe they have got two or 
* * three Sentences, but becaufe they have di- 
verted thofe Sentences, and made them their own : So 
upon the matter, Philofophy is nothing but Difcretion. 



TABLE-TALK. £5 

ftaetrg. 

t. f~^\ Vid was not only a fine Poet, but [as a 
I 1 man may fpeak] a great Canon Lawyer, as 
^-^ appears in his i^7/?/, where we have more 

of the Feftivals of the Old Ro?na,7is than any where 

else : 'tis pity the reft are loft. 

2. There is no reafon Plays fhould be in Verfe, 
either in Blank or Rhime, only the Poet has to fay for 
himfelf, that he makes fomething like that, which fome 
body made before him. The old Poets had no other 
reafon but this, their Verfe was fung to Mufick, other- 
wife it had been a fenfelefs thing to have fetter'd up 
themfelves. 

3. I never Converted but two, the one was Mr. 
Crajham from writing againft Plays, by telling him a 
way how to underftand that place [of putting on 
Womens Apparel] which has nothing to do in the 
bufmefs [as neither has it, that the Fathers fpeak 
againft Plays in their time, with reafon enough, for 
they had real Idolatries mix'd with their Plays, having 
three Altars perpetually upon the Stage.] The other 
was a Doctor of Divinity, from preaching againft 
Painting, which fimply in it felf is no more hurtful, 
than putting on my Cloaths, or doing any thing to 
make my felf like other folks, that I may not be odious 
nor ofTenfive to the Company. Indeed if I do it with 
an ill intention, it alters the Cafe, fo if I put on my 
Gloves with an intention to do a mifchief, I am a 
Villain. 

4. Tis a fine thing for Children to learn to make 
Verfe, but when they come to be men they muft fpeak 
like other men, or elfe they will be laught at. 'Tis 
Ridiculous to fpeak, or write, or preach in Verfe. As 
'tis good to learn to dance, a man may learn his Leg, 
learn to go handfomly, but 'tis ridiculous for him to 
dance, when he fhould go. 

5. 'Tis ridiculous for a Lord to Print Verfes, 'tis 
well enough to make them to pleafe himfelf, but to 
make them publick, is foolifh. If a man in his private 
Chamber twirls his Bandftrings, or plays with a Rufh 



86 TABLE-TALK. 

to pleafe himfelf, 'tis well enough, but if he mould go 
into Fleet Jlreet, and fit upon a Stall, and twirl a Band- 
firing, or play with a Rufh, then all the Boys in the 
Street would laugh at him. 

6. Verfe proves nothing but the quantity of Sylla- 
bles, they are not meant for Logick. 

I. A Popes Bull and a Popes Brief differ very 
/-\ much, as with us the great Seal and the 
■^ ■*■ Privy Seal. The Bull being the highefl 
Authority the Pope can give, the Brief is of lefs. The 
Bull has a Leaden Seal upon filk, hanging upon the 
Inflrument. The Brief has fub Annulo Pifcatoris 
upon the fide. 

2. He was a wife Pope, that when one that ufed to 
be merry with him, before he was advanc't to the 
Popedom, refrain'd afterwards to come at him, (pre- 
fuming he was bufie in governing the Chriflian World) 
the Pope fends for him, bids him come again, and 
(fays he) we will be merry as we were before, for thou 
little thinkefl what a little Foolery governs the whole 
World. 

3. The Pope in fending Rellicks to Princes, does as 
Wenches do by their Waffals at Ne7u-y ears -tide, they 
prefent you with a Cup, and you mufl drink of a flabby 
fluff; but the meaning is, that you mufl give them 
Moneys, ten times more than it is worth. . 

4. The Pope is Infallible, where he hath power 
to command, that is where he mufl be obey'd, fo 
is every Supream Power and Prince. They that 
flretch his Infallibility further, do they know not what. 

5. When a Proteflant and a Papifl Difpute, they 
talk like two Madmen, becaufe they do not agree upon 
their Principles, the one way is to deflroy the Popes 
Power, for if he hath Power to command me, 'tis not 
my alledging Reafons to the contrary can keep me 
from obeying : For Example, if a Conflable command 
me to wear a Green Suit to morrow, and has power to 
make me, 'tis not my alledging a hundred Reafons of 
the Folly of it can excufe me from doing it. 



TABLE-TALK. 87 

6. There was a time when the Pope had Power 
here in England^ and there was excellent life made of 
it, for 'twas only to ferve turns, (as might be manifefted 
out of the Records of the Kingdom, which Divines 
know little of.) If the King did not like what the 
Pope would have, he would forbid the Pope's Legate 
to land upon his ground. So that the Power was truly 
then in the King, though fuffer'd in the Pope. But 
now the Temporal and the Spiritual Power (Spiritual 
fo call'd becaufe ordain'd to a Spiritual end) fpring both 
from one Fountain, they are like to twift that. 

7. The Proteftants in Fra?ice bear Office in the 
State, becaufe though their Religion be different, yet 
they acknowledge no other King but the King of 
France. The Papifts in England they muft have a 
King of their own, a Pope, that muft do fomething in 
our Kingdom, therefore there is no reafon they mould 
enjoy the fame Priviledges. 

8. Amfterdam admits of all Religions but Papifts, 
and 'tis upon the fame Account. The Papifts where 
e're they live, have another King at Rome ; all other 
Religions are fubject to the prefent State, and have no 
Prince elfe-where. 

9. The Papifts call our Religion a Parliamentary 
Religion, but there was once, I am fure, a Parliament- 
ary Pope. Pope Urban was made Pope in England 
by Act of Parliament, againft Pope Clement ; the Act 
is not in the Book of Statutes, either becaufe he that 
compiled the Book, would not have the Name of the 
Pope there, or elfe he would not let it appear that they 
medled with any fuch thing, but 'tis upon the Rolls. 

10. When our Clergy preach againft the Pope, and 
the Church of Rome, they preach againft themfelves, 
and crying down their Pride, their Power, and their 
Riches, have made themfelves poor and contemptible 
enough, they dedicate firft to pleafe their Prince, not 
confidering what would follow. Juft as if a man were 
to go a Journey, and feeing at his firft fetting out the 
way clean and fair, ventures forth in his Slippers, not 
confidering the Dirt and the Sloughs are a little fur- 
ther off, or how fuddenly the Weather may change. 



88 TABLE-TALK. 

i. r I ^HE demanding a Noble, for a dead body 
paffmg through a Town, came from hence in 
-*■ time of Popery, they carry' d the dead body 
into the Church, where the Prieft faid Dirgies, and 
twenty Dirgies at fourpence a piece comes to a Noble, 
but now 'tis forbidden by an Order from my Lord 
Marfhal, the Heralds carry his Warrant about them. 

2. We charge the Prelatical Clergy with Popery to 
make them odious, though we know they are guilty of 
no fuch thing : Jufl as heretofore they call'd Images 
Mammets, and the Adoration of Images Mammettry : 
that is, Mahomet and Mahometry, odious names, when 
all the World knows the Turks are forbidden Images 
by their Religion. 

Softer, £>tate. 

i. 'HT^ Here is no ftretching of Power, 'tis a good 
rule, eat within your Stomack, ac~l within 
-*- your Commiffion. 

2. They that govern mofl make leaft noife. You fee 
when they row in a Barge, they that do drudgery- work, 
flam, and puff, and fwear, but he that governs, fits 
quietly at the Stern, and fcarce is feen to ftir. 

3. Syllables govern the world. 

4. \AU Power is of God] means no more than Fides 
ejlfervanda. When St. Paul faid this, the people had 
made Nero Emperour. They agree, he to command, 
they to obey. Then God comes in, and calls a hook 
upon them, keep your Faith, then comes in, all power 
is of God. Never King dropt out of the Clouds. God 
did not make a new Emperour, as the King makes a 
Juftice of peace. 

5. Chrifl. himfelf was a great obferver of the Civil 
power, and did many things only juftifiable, becaufe 
the State requir'd it, which were things meerly Tempo- 
rary for the time that State flood. But Divines make 
ufe of them to gain power to themfelves, (as for Ex- 
ample) that of Die Ecclefice, tell the Church ; there 
was then a Sanhedrim, a Court to tell it to, and there- 
fore they would have it fo now. 



TABLE-TALK. £9 

6. Divines ought to do no more than what the 
State permits. Before the State became Chriflian, 
they made their own Laws, and thofe that did not 
obferve them, they Excommunicated, [naughty men\ 
they fuffer'd them to come no more amongft them. 
But if they would come amongft them, how could they 
hinder them ? By what Law ? by what Power ? they 
were flill fubjecl: to the State, which was Heathen. 
Nothing better expreffes the condition of Chriftians in 
thofe times, than one of the Meetings you have in 
London, of men of the fame Country, of Suffex-mzx\, 
or BedfordJ/iire-mQT\, they appoint their meeting, and 
they agree, and make Laws amongft themfelves \He 
that is not there JJiall pay double, &c] and if any one 
misbehave himfelf, they mut him out of their Com- 
pany; but can they recover a Forfeiture made con- 
cerning their meeting by any Law? Have they any 
power to compel one to pay ? but afterwards when the 
State became Chriflian, all the power was in them, 
and they gave the Church as much, or as little as they 
pleas'd, and took away. when they pleas'd, and added 
what they pleas'd. 

7. The Church is not only Subject to the Civil 
Power with us that are Proteilants, but alfo in Spain, 
if the Church does Excommunicate a man for what it 
fhould not, the Civil Power will take him out of their 
hands. So in France, the Bifhop of Angiers alter'd 
fomething in the Breviary, they complain'd to the 
Parliament at Paris, they made him alter it again, 
with a \comme abufe\ 

8. The Parliament of England has no Arbitrary Power 
in point of Judicature, but in point of making Law only. 

9. If the Prince be fervus natura, of a fervile bale 
Spirit, and the Subjects liberi, Free and Ingenuous, 
oft-times they depofe their Prince, and govern them- 
felves. On the contrary, if the people be Semi 
Natura, and fome one amongft them of a Free and 
Ingenuous Spirit, he makes himfelf King of the reft, 
and this is the Caufe of all Changes in State. Com- 
mon-wealths into Monarchies, and Monarchies into 
Common-wealths. 



I 



90 TABLE-TALK. 

10. In a troubled State we muft do as in foul 
Weather upon the Thames, not think to cut directly 
through, fo the Boat may be quickly full of water, but rife 
and fall as the Waves do, give as much as conveniently 
we can. 

1. f F I were a Minifter, I mould think my felf 
mod in my Office, Reading of Prayers, and 
Difpenfing the Sacraments ; and 'tis ill done 
to put one to Officiate in the Church, whofe Perfon 
is contemptible out of it. Should a great Lady, that 
was invited to be a Goffip, in her place fend her 
Kitchen-Maid, 'twould be ill taken, yet fhe is a 
Woman as well as fhe, let her fend her Woman at leaft. 

2. [You /hall pray] is the right way, becaufe accord- 
ing as the Church is fettled, no man may make a 
Prayer in Publick of his own head. 

3. 'Tis not the Original Common- Prayer-Book, 
why, fhew me an Original Bible, or an Original 
Magna Charta. 

4. Admit the Preacher prays by the Spirit, yet that 
very Prayer is Common-Prayer to the People ; they 
are ty'd as much to his words, as in faying [Almighty 
and mojl merciful Father] is it then unlawful in the 
Minifter, but not unlawful in the People ? 

5. There are fome Mathematicians, that could with 
one fetch of their Pen make an exact Circle, and 
with the next touch point out the Center, is it there- 
fore reafonable to banifh all ufe of the Compaffes? 
Set Forms are a pair of Compaffes. 

6. [God hath given gifts unto men] General Texts 
prove nothing : let him fhew me John, William or 
Thomas in the Text, and then I will believe him. If 
a man hath a voluble Tongue, we fay, He hath the 
gift of Prayer. His gift is to pray long, that I fee ; 
but does he pray better ? 

7. We take care what we fpeak to men, but to God 
we may fay any thing. 

8. The People muft not think a thought towards 
God, but as their Paftours will put it into their 
Mouths : they will make right Sheep of us. 



TABLE-TALK. 91 

9. The EngUJJi Priefts would do that in Englifh which 
^SMtRomiJh do in Latin, keep the people in Ignorance- 
but fome of the people out-do them at their own Game. 

10. Prayer mould be fhort, without giving God 
Almighty Reafons why he mould grant this, or that, 
he knows bell what is good for us. If your Boy 
mould ask you a Suit of Cloaths, and give you 
Reafons (otherwife he cannot wait upon you, he can- 
not go abroad but he mail difcredit you) would you 
endure it? you know it better than he, let him ask a 
Suit of Cloaths. 

11. If a Servant that has been fed with good Beef, 
goes into that part of England, where Salmon is 
plenty, at firft he is pleas' d with his Salmon, and 
defpifes his Beef, but after he has been there a while, 
he grows weary of his Salmon, and wifhes for his 
good Beef again. We have a while been much taken 
with this praying by the Spirit, but in time we may 
grow weary of it, and wifh for our Common-Prayer. 

12. Tis hop'd we may be cur'd of our Extempory 
Prayers the fame way the Grocer's-Boy is cur'd of 
his eating Plumbs, when we have had our Belly full 
of them. 

ijBrcatfjtmj. 
1. IV 7 O thing is more miftaken than that Speech 
^^ [Preach the Gofple\ for 'tis not to make long 
-*■ ^ Harangues, as they do now a-days, but to 
tell the news of Chrifts coming into the World, and 
when that is done, or where 'tis known already, the 
Preach ers work is done. 

2. Preaching in the firft fence of the word ceas'd 
as foon as ever the Gofpels were written. 

3. When the Preacher fays, this is the meaning of 
the Holy Ghoft in fuch a place, in fenfe he can mean 
no more than this, that is, I by ftuddying of the 
place, by comparing one place with another, by 
weighing what goes before, and what comes after, 
think this is the meaning of the Holy Ghoft, and for 
fhortnefs of Expreffion I fay, the Holy Ghoft fays 
thus, or this is the meaning of the Spirit of God. So 
the Judge fpeaks of the King's Proclamation, this is 



92 TABLE-TALK. 

the intention of the King, not that the King had 
declared his intention any other way to the Judge, 
but the Judge examining the Contents of the Procla- 
mation, gathers by the Purport of the words, the 
King's Intention, and then for fhortnefs of expreffion 
fays, this is the King's Intention. 

4. Nothing is Text but what was fpoken in the 
Bible, and meant there for Perfon and Place, the reft 
is Application, which a difcreet Man may do well ; 
but 'tis his Scripture, not the Holy Ghoft. 

5. Preaching by the Spirit (as they call it) is mofl 
efteem'd by the Common people, becaufe they can- 
not abide Art or Learning, which they have not been 
bred up in. Juft as in the bufmefs of Fencing; if one 
Country-Fellow amongft the reft, has been at the 
School, the reft will undervalue his Skill, or tell him 
he wants Valour. You come with your School-Tricks : 
There's Dick Butcher has ten times more Mettle in 
him : So they fay to the Preachers, You come tvith your 
School Learning : There V fuch a one has the Spirit. 

6. The tone in Preaching does much in working 
upon the Peoples Affections. If a Man Ihould make 
love in an ordinary Tone, his Miftrefs would not 
regard him ; and therefore he muft whine. If a Man 
Ihould cry Fire, or Murther in an ordinaiy Voice, no 
body would come out to help him. 

7. Preachers will bring anything into the Text. 
The Young Mafters of Arts preached againft Non- 
Refidency in the Univerfity, whereupon the Heads 
made an Order, That no Man Ihould meddle with 
any thing but what was in the Text. The next Day 
one preach'd upon thefe Words, Abraham begat Ifaac ; 
when he had gone a good way, at laft he obferv'd, 
that Abraham was Refident, for if he had been Non- 
Refident, he could never have begat Ifaac; and fo 
fell foul upon the Non-Refidents. 

8. I could never tell what often Preaching meant, 
after a Church is fetled, and we know what is to be 
done ; 'tis juft as if a Husbandman ihould once tell his 
Servants what they are to do, when to Sow, when to 
Reap, and afterwards one fhould come and tell them 



TABLE-TALK. 93 

twice or thrice a Day what they know already. You 
muft Sow your Wheat in Offober, you muft Reap your 
Wheat in Ai/guJI, &>c. 

9. The main Argument why they would have two 
Sermons a day, is, becaufe they have two Meals a 
Day ; the Soul muft be fed as well as the Body. But 
I may as well argue, I ought to have two Nofes, 
becaufe I have two Eyes, or two Mouths, becaufe I 
have two Ears. What have Meals and Sermons to do 
one with another? 

10. The Things between God and Man are but 
few, and thofe, forfooth, we muft be told often of; 
but things between Man and Man are many ; thofe I 
hear not of above twice a Year, at the Aflizes, or once 
a Quarter at the Seflions; but few come then; nor 
does the Minifter exhort the People to go at thefe 
times to learn their Duty towards their Neighbour. 
Often Preaching is fure to keep the Minifter in Coun- 
tenance, that he may have fomething to do. 

11. In Preaching they fay more to raife men to love 
Vertue than men can poffibly perform, to make them 
do their beft ; as if you would teach a man to throw 
the Bar, or make him put out his Strength, you bid 
him throw further than it is poffible for him, or any 
man elfe ? Throw over yonder Houfe. 

r2. In Preaching they do by men as Writers of 
Romances do by their Chief Knights, bring them into 
many Dangers, but ftill fetch them off: So they put 
men in fear of Hell, but at laft they bring them to 
Heaven. 

13. Preachers fay, Do as I fay, not as I do. But if 
a Phyfician had the fame Difeafe upon him that I have, 
and he fhould bid me do one thing, and he do quite 
another, could I believe him ? 

14. Preaching the fame Sermon to all forts of People, 
is, as if a School-Mafter fhould read the fame Leffon 
to his feveral Formes : If he reads Amo, amas, amavi, 
the higheft Forms Laugh at him ; the younger Boys 
admire him : So 'tis in preaching to a mix'd Auditory. 
Obj. But it cannot be otherwife, the Parifh cannot 
be divided into several Formes ; What muft the 



94 TABLE-TALK. 

Preacher then do in Difcretion ? Anfw. Why then let 
him life fome expreffions by which this or that condi- 
tion of people may know fuch Doctrine does more 
efpecially concern them, it being fo delivered that the 
wifeft may be content to hear. For if he delivers 
it all together, and leaves it to them to fmgle out what 
belongs to themfelves (which is the ufual way) 'tis as 
if a man would bellow Gifts upon Children of feveral 
ages : Two years old, four years old, ten years old, 
6r*c., and there he brings Tops, Pins, Points, Ribbands, 
and calls them all in a heap together upon a Table 
before them -: though the Boy of ten years old knows 
how to chufe his Top, yet the Child of two years old, 
that mould have a Ribband, takes a Pin, and the 
Pin ere he be aware pricks his Fingers, and then all's 
out of order, &*c. Preachinge for the moll part is the 
glory of the preacher, to fhew himfelf a fine man. 
Catechifing would do much better. 

15. Ufe the beft Arguments to perfwade > though 
but few underftand, for the ignorant will fooner believe 
the judicious of the Parifh, than the Preacher himfelf, 
and they teach when they diffipate what he has faid, 
and believe it the fooner confirm'd by men of their 
own fide. For betwixt the Laity and the Clergy, 
there is, as it were, a continual driving of a bargain ; 
fomething the Clergy would flill have us be at, and 
therefore many things are heard from the Preacher 
with fufpicion. They are affraid of fome ends, 
which are eafily affented to, when they have it 
from fome of themfelves. 'Tis with a Sermon as 'tis 
with a Play ; many come to fee it, which do not un- 
derftand it ; and yet hearing it cry'd up by one, whofe 
judgment they caft themfelves upon, and of power with 
them, they fwear and will die in it, that 'tis a very good 
Play, which they would not have done if the Prieft 
himfelf had told them fo. As in a great School, 'tis 
the Mafler that teaches all • the Monitor does a great 
deal of work ; it may be the Boys are affraid to fee the 
Mafler : fo in a Parifh 'tis not the Minifter does all ; 
the greater Neighbour teaches the leffer, the Mafler of 
the houfe teaches his Servant, &*c. 






TABLE-TALK. 9o 

to. FirlT in your Sermons ufe your Logick, and then 
your Rhetorick. Rhetorick without Logick is like a 
Tree with Leaves and Bloffoms, but no Root ; yet I 
confers more are taken with Rhetorick than Logick, 
becaufe they are catched with a free Expreffion, when 
they underftand not Reafon. Logick muft be natural, 
or it is worth nothing at all : Your Rhetorick figures 
may be learn'd ; That Rhetorick is beft which is moft 
feafonable and moft catching. An inflance we have 
in that old blunt Commander at Cadiz, who fhew'd 
himfelf a good Oratour, being to fay fomething to his 
Souldiers (which he was not us'd to do) he made them 
a Speech to this purpofe ; What aJJiame will it be, you 
EnglifJmien, that feed upon good Beef and Brewefs, to lei 
thofe Rafcally Spaniards beat you, that eat nothing but 
Oranges and Limons ? And fo put more Courage into 
his Men than he could have done with a more learned 
Oration. Rhetorick is very good, or flark naught : 
There's no medium in Rhetorick. If I am not fully 
perfwaded I laugh at the Oratour. 

17. 'Tis good to preach the fame thing again, for 
that's the way to have it learn'd. You fee a Bird by 
often whittling to learn a tune, and a Month after 
record it to her felf. 

18. 'Tis a hard cafe a Minifter mould be turned out 
of his Living for fomething they inform he fhould fay in 
his Pulpit. We can no more know what a Minifter 
faid in his Sermon by two or three words pickt out of 
it, than we can tell what Tune a Mufician play'd laft 
upon the Lute, by two or three fingle Notes. 

Prrtfetfttnatuin. 

1. r I ^Hey that talk nothing but Predeftination, 

and will not proceed in the way of Heaven 

-*" till they be fatisfied in that point, do, as a 

man that would not come to London, unlefs at his firft 

ftep he might fet his foot upon the top of Paul's. 

2. For a young Divine to begin in his Pulpit with 
Predeftination, is as if a man were coming into London 
and at his firft ftep would think to fet his foot, &*c. 

3. Predeftination is a point inacceffible, out of our 



g5 TABLE-TALK. 

reach ; we can make no notion of it, 'tis fo full of 
intricacy, fo full of contradiction : 'tis in good earneft, 
as we ftate it, half a dozen Bulls one upon another. 

4. Doctor Prideaux in his Lectures, feveral days 
us'd Arguments to prove Predeflination ; at lafl tells 
his Auditory they are damn'd that do not believe it ; 
doing herein jufl like School-boys, when one of them 
has got an Apple, or fomething the reft have a mind 
to, they ufe all the Arguments they can to get fome of 
it from them: I gave you fome? other day: You Jhall have 
fome with me another time: when they cannot prevail, 
they tell him he's a Jackanapes, a Rogue and a Rafcal. 

preferment 

1. T T 7 Hen you would have a Child go to fuch a 
X/V/ place, and you find him unwilling, you 
* * tell him he fhall ride a Cock-horfe, and 
then he will go prefently : So do thofe that govern the 
State, deal by men, to work them to their ends ; they 
tell them they fhall be advane'd to fuch or fuch a place, 
and they will do anything they would have them. 

2. A great place ftrangely qualifies. Joh?i Read 
(was in the right) Groom of the Cha?nber to my Lord of 
Kent. Attorney Noy being dead, fome were faying, 
How will the King do for a fit man? why, Any man, 
(foys John Read) may execute the Place. I warrant 
(fays my Lord) thou thinkft thou underfland'ft enough 
to perform it. Yes, quoth John, Let the King make 
me Attorney, and I would fain fee that man, that durfl 
tell me, there's any thing I underftand not. 

3. When the Pageants are a coming there's a great 
thruftmg and a riding upon one another's backs, to 
look out at the Window ; flay a little and they will 
come juft to you, you may fee them quietly. So 'tis 
when a new Statefman or Officer is chofen; there's 
great expectation and liftning who it fliould be ; flay 
a while, and you may know quietly. 

4. Miffing Preferment makes the Presbyters fall foul 
upon the Bifhops : Men that are in hopes and in the 
way of rifing, keep in the Channel, but they that have 
none, feek new ways : 'Tis fo amongft the Lawyers : 



TABLE-TALK. 97 

he that hath the Judges Ear, will be very obfervant of 
the way of the Court ; but he that hath no regard will 
be flying out. 

5. My Lord Digby having fpoken fomething in the 
Houfe of Commons, for which they would have 
queflion'd him, was prefently called to the Upper 
Houfe. He did by the Parliament as an Ape when 
he hath done fome waggery ; his Mafter fpies him, and 
he looks for his Whip, but before he can come at him, 
whip fays he to the top of the houfe. 

6. Some of the Parliament were difcontented, that 
they wanted places at Court, which others had got ; but 
when they had them once, then they were quiet. Jul! 
as at a Chriftning fome thatgetno Sugar Plums, when the 
reft have, mutter and grumble ; prefently the Wench 
comes again with her Basket of Sugar-Plums, and then 
they catch and fcramble and when they have got them, 
you hear no more of them. 

|3ramutmre. 

1. r I ^Here can be no Prcemnnire. A Prcemwiii-e (fo 
call'd from the word Praemunire facias) was 
-*~ when a man laid an Action in an Ecclefiaftical 
Court, for which he could have no remedy in any of the 
King's Courts ; that is in the Courts of Common Law, 
by reafon the Ecclefiaftical Courts before Henry the 
Eight were fubordinate to the Pope, and fo it was 
Contra coronam et dignitate?n Regis ; but now the 
Ecclefiaftical Courts are equally fubordinate to the 
King. Therefore it cannot be co?itra coronam et digni- 
tatem Pegis, and fo no Prcemitnire. 

Prmisattijc. 

1. '^JRerogative is fomething that can be told 

r"^ what it is, not fomething that has no 

■*- name. Juft as you fee the Archbifhop has 

his Prerogative Court, but we know what is done 

in that Court. So the King's Prerogative is not his will; 

or what Divines make it, a Power to do what he lifts. 

2. The King's Prerogative, that is, the King's Lav. 

G 



98 TABLE-TALK. 

For example, if you ask whether a Patron may prefent 
to a Living after fix months by Law ? I aniwer no. 
If you ask whether the King may ? I anfwer he may 
by his Prerogative, that is by the Law that concerns 
him in that case. 

Pre^ytery. 
i. r I ""Hey that would bring in a new Government, 
would very fain perfwade us, they meet it in 
-*- Antiquity ; thus they interpret Presbyters, 
when they meet the word in the Fathers ; Other prc- 
feffions likewife pretend to Antiquity. The Alchymifl 
will find his Art in Virgil's Aureus ramus, and he that 
delights in Opticks will find them in Tacitus. When 
Ccefar came into England they would perfwade us, 
they had perfpective-Glaffes, by which he could 
difcover what they were doing upon the Land, becaufe 
it is faid, Pofitio Speculis ; the meaning is, His Watch, 
or his Sentinel difcover'd this, and this unto him. 

2. Presbyters have the greateft power of any Clergy 
in the World, and gull the Laity mod ; for example ; 
Admit there be twelve Laymen to fix Presbyters, the 
fix fhall govern the reft as they pleafe. Firft becaufe 
they are conftant, and the others come in like Church- 
Wardens in their turns, which is an huge advantage. 
Men will give way to them who have been in place 
before them. Next the Laymen have other profeffions 
to follow ; the Presbyters make it their fole bufinefs ; 
and befides too they learn and ftudy the Art of 
perfwading ; fome of Geneva have confefs'd as much. 

3. The Presbyter with his Elders about him is like 
a young Tree fenc'd about with two or three or four 
Stakes ; the Stakes defend it, and hold it up ; but the 
Tree only profpers and flourifhes ; it may be some 
Willow flake may bear a Leaf or two, but it comes 
to nothing. Lay-Elders are Stakes, the Presbyter the 
Tree that flourifhes. 

4. When the Queries were fent to the Affembly 
concerning the Jus Divinum of Presbytery ; their 
asking time to Anfwer them, was a Satyr upon them- 
felves. For if it were to be feen in the Text, they 
might quickly turn to the place, and (hew us it. Their 



TABLE-TALK. 99 

delaying to Anfwer makes us think there's no fuch 
thing there. They do jufl as you have feen a fellow 
do at a Tavern Reckoning, when he mould come to 
pay his Reckoning he puts his hands in his Pockets, 
and keeps a grabling and a fumbling, and making, at 
laft tells you he has left his Money at home ; when all 
the company knew at firft, he had no Money there, for 
every man can quickly find his own Money. 

}9ttC5'r<3 nf I\omr. 
i. r I ^HE reafon of the Statute againft Priefts, was 
this ; In the beginning of Queen Elizabet/i 
-*- there was a Statute made, that he that drew 
men from their Civil obedience was a Traitor. It 
happen'd this was done in Privacies and Confeffions, 
when there could be no proof; therefore they made 
another Act, that for a Prieft to be in England, was 
Treafon, becaufe they prefum'd that was his bufinefs 
to fetch men off from their Obedience. 

2. When Queen Elizabeth dy'd, and King James 
came in, an Irifti Prieft does thus exprefs it ; Elizabetha 
i:i or cum detrufa, fucceffit Jacobus , alter Hcereticus. You 
will afk why they did ufe fuch Language in their 
Church. Anfw. Why does the Nurfe tell the Child 
of Raw-head and Bloudy-bones, to keep it in awe ? 

3. The Queen-Mother and Count -Roffet, are to the 
Priefts and Jefuits like the honey-pot to the Flies. 

4. The Priefts of Rome aim but at two things, To get 
power from the King, and Money from the Subject. 

5. When the Priefts come into a Family, they do as 
a man that would fet fire on a houfe ; he does not put 
fire to the Brick-wall, but thrufts it into the Thatch. 
They work upon the women, and let the men alone. 

6. For a Prieft to turn a man when he lies a-dying, 
is jufl like one that hath a long time folicited a woman, 
and cannot obtain his end ; at length makes her 
drunk, and fo lies with her. 

Projrfjcctria. 
Reams and Prophecies do thus much good ; 
They make a man go on with boldnefs and 
courage, upon a Danger or a Miftrefs ; if 



D 



ico TABLE-TALK. 

he obtains, he attributes much to tnem ; if he mii- 
carries, he thinks no more of them, or is no more 
thought of himfelf. 

gfra&er&A 
i. r I A HE Proverbs of feveral Nations were much 
ftudied by Bifhop Andrews, and the reafon 
-** he gave, was, Becaufe by them he knew the 
minds of feveral Nations which is a brave thing ; as 
we count him a wife man, that knows the minds and 
infides of men, which is done by knowing what is 
habitual to them. Proverbs are habitual to a Nation, 
being tranfmitted from Father to Son. 

i. T T 7 Hen a doubt is propounded, you mufl 
\/\/ learn to diftinguim, and fhow wherein a 
* * thing holds, and wherein it does not 
hold. Ay, or no, never anfwer'd any Queftion. The 
not diftinguiming where things fhould be diftinguifh'd, 
and the not confounding, where things fhould be con- 
founded, is the caufe of all the miftakes in the World. 

3ftea£mt. 

*• T N giving Reafon s, Men commonly do with 
us as the Woman does with her Child ; when 
-*■ (he goes to Market about her bufmess, me 
tells it flie goes to buy it a fine thing, to buy it a Cake 
or fome Plums. They give us fuch Reafons as they 
think we will be catch ed withal, but never let us know 
the Truth. 

2. When the School-men talk of Recla Ratio in 
Morals, either they underfland Reafon, as it is 
govern'd by a Command from above ; or elfe they fay 
no more than a Woman, when fhe fays a thing is fo, 
becaufe it is fo ; that is her Reafon perfvvades her 'tis 
fo. The other Acception has Sence in it. As take a 
Law of the Land, I mud not depopulate, my Reafon tells 
me fo. Why ? Becaufe if I do, I incurr the detriment. 

3. The Reafon of a Thing is not to be enquired 
after, till you are fure the Thing it felf be fo. We com- 
monly are at [ Whafs the Reafon of it ?] before we are 
fure of the Thing. 'Twas an excellent Queftion of my 



TABLE-TALK. roi 

Lady Cotten, when Sir Robert Cottcn was magnifying of 
a Shooe, which was Mofes's or Noah 1 ?,, and wondring 
at the ftrange Shape and Fafhion of it: But Mr. Cotten, 
fays me, are you fur e it is a Shooe. 

Betaltatum. 

\ JV Eye for an Eye, and a Tooth for a Tooth \ 
/-\ ' That does not mean, that if I put out another 
^ -*- Man's Eye, therefore I muft lofe one of my 
own, (for what is he the better for that ?) though this 
be commonly received ; but it means, I fhall give him 
what Satisfaction an Eye fhail be judged to be worth. 

i. ir I MS fometimes unreafonable to look after 
Refpect and Reverence, either from a Man's 
-** own Servant, or other Inferiours. A great 
Lord and a Gentleman talking together, there came a 
Boy by, leading a Calf with both his hands ; fays the 
Lord to the Gentleman, You shall fee me make the 
Boy let go his Calf; with that he came towards him, 
thinking the Boy would have put off his Hat, but the 
Boy took no Notice of him. The Lord feeing that, 
Sirrah, fays he, Do you not know me that you ufe no 
Reverence? Yes, fays the Boy, if your LordOiip will 
hold my Calf I will put of my Hat. 

i. r |[ ^HE People thought they had a great Victory 
. I over the Clergy, when in Henry the Eighth's 
-*- time they got their Bill paffed, That a 
Clergy-man mould have but Two Livings ; before a 
Man might have Twenty or Thirty ; 'twas but getting 
a Difpenfation from the Pope's Limiter, or Gatherer of 
the Peter-Pence, which was as eafily got, as now you 
may have a Licence to eat Flefh. 

2. As foon as a Miniiler is made, he hath Power to 
Preach all over the World, but the Civil-Power reftrains 
him; he cannot preach in this Parifh, or in that ; there 
is one already appointed. Now if the State allows him 
Two Livings, then he hath Two Places where he may 
Exercife his Function, and fo has the more Power 



10- TABLE-TALK. 

to do his Office, which he might do every where if he 
were not retrained. 

i. T 7" Ing James faid to the Fly, Have I Three 

\\^ Kingdoms, and thou muft needs fly into 

-*- ^ my Eye ? Is there not enough to meddle 

with upon the Stage, or in Love, or at the Table, but 

Religion ? 

2. Religion amongfl Men appears to me like the 
Learning they got at School. Some Men forget all 
they learned, others fpend upon the Stock, and fome 
improve it. So fome Men forget all the Religion that 
was taught them when they were Young, others fpend 
upon that Stock, and fome improve it. 

3. Religion is like the Fafhion, one Man wears his 
Doublet flafh'd, another lac'd, another plain; but every 
Man has a Doublet : So every Man has his Religion. 
We differ about Trimming. 

4. Men fay they are of the fame Religion for Quiet- 
nefs fake : but if the matter were well Examin'd you 
would fcarce find Three any where of the fame Religion 
in all Points. 

5. Every Religion is a getting Religion; for though 
I my felf get nothing. I am Subordinate to thofe that do. 
So you may find a Lawyer in the Temple that gets little 
for the prefent, but he is fitting himfelf to be in time 
one of thofe great Ones that do get. 

6. Alteration of Religion is dangerous, becaufe we 
know not where it will flay ; 'tis like a Milflone that 
lies upon the top of a pair of Stairs, 'tis hard to remove 
it, but if once it be thrufl off the firft Stair, it never 
flays till it comes to the bottom. 

7. Qiiejlion. Whether is the Church or the Scripture 
Judge of Religion ? Anj'wer. In truth neither, but the 
State. I am troubled with a Boil ; I call a Company 
of Chirurgeons about me ; one prefcribes one thing, 
another another; I fingle out fomething I like, and ask 
you that ftand by, and are no Chirurgeon, what you 
think of it : You like it too ; you and I are Judges of 
the Plafler, and we bid them prepare it, and there's an 
end. Thus 'tis in Religion ; the Proteftants fay they 



TABLE-TALK. 103 

will be judged by the Scripture; the Papifts fay fo too; 
but that cannot fpeak. A Judge is no Judge, except 
he can both fpeak and command Execution ; but the 
truth is they never intend to agree. No doubt the 
Pope where he is Supream, is to be Judge ; if he fay 
we in England ought to be fubjecl to him, then he 
mufl draw his Sword and make it good. 

8. By the Law was the Manual received into the 
Church before the Reformation, not by the Civil Law, 
that had nothing to do in it ; nor by the Canon Law, 
for that Manual that was here, was not in France, nor 
in Spain ; but by Cuftom, which is the Common Law 
of England-, and Cuftom is but the Elder Brother to a 
Parliament : and fo it will fall out to be nothing that 
the Papifts fay, Ours is a Parliamentary Religion, by 
reafon the Service-Book was Eflablifhed by Acl: of Par- 
liament, and never any Service-Book was fo before. 
That will be nothing that the Pope fent the Manual : 
'Twas ours, becaufe the State received it. The • State 
Rill makes the Religion and receives into it, what will 
bed agree with it. Why are the Venetians Roman 
Catholicks ? Because the State likes the Religion : 
All the World knows they care not Three Pence for 
the Pope. The Council of Trent is not at this day 
admitted in France. 

9. Papifl. Where was your Religion before Luther, 
an Hundred Years ago ? Protejlant. Where was 
America an Hundred or Sixfcore years ago? Our 
Religion was where the reft of the Chriftian Church 
was. Papifl. Our Religion continued ever fmce the 
Apoftles, and therefore 'tis better. Protejlant. So did 
ours. That there was an interruption of it, will fall 
out to be nothing, no more than if another Earl fhould 
tell me of the Earl of Kent, faying, He is a better Earl 
than he, becaufe there was one or two of the Family 
of Kent did not take the Title upon them : yet all that 
while they were really Earls ; and afterwards a Great 
Prince declar'd them to be Earls of Kent, as he that 
made the other Family an Earl. 

10. Difputes in Religion will never be ended, be- 
caufe there wants a Meafure by which the Bufinefs 



104 TABLE-TALK. 

would be decided : The Puretan would be judged by 
the Word of God : If he would fpeak clearly, he means 
himfelf, but he is afhamed to fay fo; and he would have 
me believe him before a whole Church, that has read 
the Word of God as well as he. One fays one thing, 
and another another ; and there is, I fay, no Meafure 
to end the Controverfie. 'Tis juft as if Two men were 
at Bowls, and both judg'd by the Eye ; One fays 'tis 
his Call, the other fays 'tis my Caft ; and having no 
Meafure, the Difference is Eternal. Ben John/on 
Satyrically exprefs'd the vain Difputes of Divines hylnigo 
Lant/wrne, difputing with his Puppet in a Bartholomew 
Fair : It is fo ; It is not fo ; It is fo ; It is not fo, crying 
thus one to another a quarter of an Hour together. 

ii. In Matters of Religion to be rul'd by one that 
writes againfl his Adverfary, and throws all the Dirt he 
can in his Face, is, as if in point of good Manners a 
Man mould be govern'd by one whom he fees at Cuffs 
with another, and thereupon thinks himfelf bound to 
give the next Man he meets a Box on the Ear. 

12. 'Tis to no purpofe to labour to Reconcile Re- 
ligions, when the Interefl of Princes will not fuffer it. 
'Tis well if they could be Reconciled fo far, that they 
mould not cut one another's Throats. 

13. There's all the Reafon in the World Divines 
mould not be fuffer'd to go a Hair beyond their Bounds, 
for fear of breeding Confufion, mice there now be fo 
many Religions on Foot. The matter was not fo nar- 
rowly to be look'd after when there was but one Re- 
ligion in Chriftendom; the reft would cry him down for 
an Heretick, and there was no Body to fide with him. 

14. We look after Religion as the Butcher did after 
his Knife, when he had it in his Mouth. 

15. Religion is made a Juggler's Paper; now 'tis a 
Horfe, now 'tis a Lan thorn, now 'tis a Boar, now 'tis a 
Man. To ferve Ends Religion is turn'd into all Shapes. 

16. Pretending Religion and the Law of God, is to 
fet all things loofe : When a Man has no mind to do 
fomething he ought to do by his Contract with Man, 
then he gets a Text, and Interprets it as he pleafes, 
and fo thinks to get loofe. 



TABLE-TALK. 105 

17. Some Mens pretending Religion, is like the 
Roaring Boys way of Challenges, [Their -Reputation is 
dear. It does notjland with the Honour of a Gentleman^] 
when, God knows, they have neither Honour nor Repu- 
tation about them. 

18. They talk much of fetling Religion; Religion 
is well enough fetled already, if we would let it alone : 
Methinks we might look after, &*c. 

1 9. If men would fay they took Arms for any thing 
but Religion, they might be beaten out of it by Reafon; 
out of that they never can, for they will not believe 
you whatever you fay. 

20. The very Arcanum of pretending Religion in all 
Wars is, That fomething may be found out in which 
all men may have intereft. In this the Groom has as 
much intereft as the Lord. Were it for Land, one has 
One Thoufand Acres, and the other but One; he 
would not venture fo far, as he that has a Thoufand. 
But Religion is equal to both. Had all men Land 
alike, by a Lex Jgraria, then all men would fay they 
fought for Land. 

1 . T T J HY mould I think all the Fourth Command- 
\/\/ ment belongs to me, when all the Fifth 
* * does not ? What Land will the Lord give 
me for honouring my Father? It was fpoken to the 
Jews with reference to the Land of Canaan ; but the 
meaning is, If I honour my Parents, God will alfo blefs 
me. We read the Commandments in the Church- 
Service, as we do David's Pfalms, not that all there 
concerns us, but a great deal of them does. 

Sacrament. 

1. /^ * Hrist buffered Judas to take the Communion. 
I Those Minifters that keep the Parifhoners 

^■^ from it, becaufe they will not do as they 
will have them, revenge rather than reform. 

2. No man can tell whether I am fit to receive the 
Sacrament ; for though I were fit the day before, when 
he examined me ; at leafl appear'd fo to him : yet how 
can he tell what fin I have committed that night, or 



:o6 TABLE-TALK. 

the next morning, or what impious Atheiftical thoughts 
I may have about me, when I am approaching to the 
very Table ? 

^aTbattfln. 
i. T T 7*E can beft underftand the meaning of 
Yy aoirrjpia, Salvation, from the Jews, to 
* * whom the Saviour was promifed. They 
held that themfelves mould have the chief place of 
happinefs in the other world ; but the Gentiles that 
were good men, fhould likewife have their portion ot 
Blifs there too. Now by Chrifl the Partition-Wall is 
broken down, and the Gentiles that believe in him, 
are admitted to the fame place of Blifs with the Jews ; 
and why then mould not that portion of Happinefs flill 
remain to them, who do not believe in Chrifl, fo they 
be morally good ? This is a charitable opinion. 

grtarc. 

i. T N a troubled State fave as much for your own 
as you can. A Dog had been at Market to 
-*- buy a Shoulder of Mutton ; coming home he 
met two Dogs by the way, that quarrell'd with him ; he 
laid down his Shoulder of Mutton, and fell to righting 
with one of them; in the mean time the other Dog fell 
to eating his Mutton ; he feeing that, left the Dog he 
was fighting with, and fell upon him that was eating ; 
then the other Dog fell to eat ; when he perceiv'd there 
was no remedy, but which of them fo ever he fought withal, 
his Mutton was in danger, he thought he would have 
as much of it as he could, and thereupon gave over 
fighting, and fell to eating himfelf. 

£ujm'j»titum. 
i. r | A Hey that are againfl Superflition often-times 
run into it of the wrong fide. If I will wear 
-*- all colours but black, then am I Superflitious 
in not wearing black. 

2. They pretend not to adore the Crofs, becaufe 
'tis fuperftitious ; for my part I will believe them, when 
I fee them throw their money out of their Pockets, and 
not till then. 

3. If there be any Superflition truly and properly fo 



TABLE-TALK. 107 

railed, 'tis their obferving the Sabboth after the Jewifh 
manner. 

i. T Eretofore the Parliament was wary what 

Subfidies they gave to the King, becaufe 

A -*- they had no account, but now they care not 

how much they give of the Subjects money, becaufe they 

give it with one hand and receive it with the other ; and 

fo upon the matter give it themfelves. In the mean time 

what a cafe the Subjects of England are in • if the men 

they have fent to the Parliament misbehave themfelves, 

they cannot help it, becaufe the Parliament is eternal. 

2. A Subfidy was counted the fifth part of a man's 

Eftate, and fo fifty Subfidies is five and forty times more 

than a man is worth. 

r. nnHe name of Simony was begot in the Canon- 
Law; thefirft Statute againft it was in Queen 
-*- Elizabeth^ time. Since the Reformation 
Simony has been frequent : One reafon why it was not 
practifed in time of Popery, was the Pope's provifion; 
no man was fure to beflow his own Benefice. 

r. 1\ TR, Noy brought in Ship-money firft for Mari- 
\/ 1 tine Towns, but that was like putting in a 

-^ ^ -*- little Augur, that afterwards you may put 
in a greater ; he that pulls down the firft Brick, does the 
main work, afterwards 'tis eafie to pull down the Wall. 

2. They that at firft would not pay Ship-money, till 
'twas decided, did like brave men (though perhaps they 
did no good by the Trial), but they that ftand out fince, 
and fuffer themfelves to be diflrain'd, never queftioning 
thofe that do it, do pitifully, for fo they only pay twice 
as much as they fhould. 

t. T T 7E have had no National Synod fince the 

\/\/ Kingdom hath been fettled, as now it is, 

* * only Provincial ; and there will be this in- 

conveniency, to call fo many Divines together; 'twill be 

to put power in their hands, who ere too apt to ufurp 



ioS TABLE-TALK. 

it, as if the Laity were bound by their determination. 
No, let the Laity confult with Divines on all fides, hear 
what they fay, and make themfelves Mafters of their 
reafons ; as they do by any other profeffion, when they 
have a difference before them. For example Gold- 
fmiths, they enquire of them, if fuch a Jewel be of fuch 
a value, and fuch a Stone of fuch a value, hear them, 
and then being rational men judge themfelves. 

2. Why fhould you have a Synod, when you have a 
Convocation already, which is a Synod ? Would you 
have a fuperfetation of another Synod.? The Clergy 
of England when they call off the Pope, fubmitted 
themfelves to the Civil Power, and fo have continued ; 
but thefe challenge to be Jure Divi?io, and fo to be 
above the Civil Power ; thefe challenge power to call 
before their Presbyteries all perfons for all fins directly 
againft the Law of God, as proved to be fins by ne- 
ceffary confequence. If you would buy Gloves, fend 
for a Glover or two, not Glovers-hall ; confult with 
fome Divines, not fend for a Body. 

3. There mull be fome Laymen in the Synod, to 
overlook the Clergy, leafl they fpoil the Civil work ; 
jufl as when the good Woman puts a Cat into the 
Milk-houfe to kill a Moufe, fhe fends her Maid to look 
after the Cat, leafl the Cat fhould eat up the Cream. 

4. In the Ordinance for the Affembly, the Lords 
and Commons go under the names of learned, godly, 
and judicious Divines ; there is no difference put be- 
twixt them, and the Miniflers in the Context. 

5. 'Tis not unufual in the Affembly to revoke their 
Votes, by reafon they make fo much haft, but 'tis that 
will make them fcorn'd. You never heard of a Coun- 
cil revok'd an Act of its own making, they have been 
wary in that, to keep up their Infallibility ; if they did 
anything they took away the whole Council, and yet 
we would be thought infallible as any body : 'tis not 
enough to fay, the Houfe of Commons revoke their 
Votes, for theirs are but Civil truths which they by 
agreement create, and uncreate, as they please : But 
the Truths the Synod deals in are Divine, and when 
they have voted a thing, if it be then true, 'twas true 



TABLE-TALK. 109 

before, not true becaufe they voted it, nor does it 
ceafe to be true, becaufe they voted otherwife. 

6. Subfcribing in a Synod, or to the Articles of a 
Synod, is no fuch terrible thing as they make it ; be- 
caufe, if I am of a Synod, 'tis agreed, either tacitely 
or exprefly. That which the Major part determines, 
the reft are involv'd in ; and therefore I fubfcribe, 
though my own private Opinion be otherwife; and upon 
the fame Ground, I may without fcruple fubfcribe to 
what thofe have determin'd, whom I fent, though my 
private Opinion be otherwife, having refpect to that 
which is the Ground of all Aflemblies, the major part 
carries it. 

Cljrwltscjtbmfl. 

1. AT fi r ft SYQ gave Thanks for every Victory as 
/-\ foon as ever 'twas obtained, but fmce we 
-^ -*- we have had many now we can flay a good 
while. We are jufi like a Child; give him a Plum, 
he makes his Leg ; give him a fecond Plum, he makes 
another Leg : At laft when his Belly is full, he forgets 
what he ought to do ; then his Nurfe, or fome body 
elfe that (lands by him, puts him in mind of his Duty, 
Where's your Leg. 

1. r I A Ythes are more paid in kind in England, than 
in all Italy and France. In France they 
-"- have had Impropriations a long time ; we 
had none in England till Henry the Eighth. 

2. To make an- Impropriation, there was to be the 
Confent of the Incumbent, the Patron, and the King; 
then 'twas confirmed by the Pope : Without all this 
the Pope could make no Impropriation. 

3. Or what if the Pope gave the Tythes to any Man, 
must they therefore be taken away ? If the Pope gives 
me a Jewel, will you therefore take it away from me ? 

4. Abraham paid Tythes to Melchizedeck, what then ? 
Twas very well done of him : It does not follow 
therefore that I muft pay Tythes, no more than I am 
bound to imitate any other Action of Abraham's. 

5. 'Tis ridiculous to fay the Tythes are God's part, 
and therefore the Clergy muft have them : Why, of 



i ro TABLE-TALK. 

they are if the Layman has them. 'Tis as if one of 
my Lady Kent's Maids mould be fvveeping this Room, 
and another of th2m mould come and take away the 
Broom, and tell for a Reafon, why fhe fhould part 
with it : 'Tis my Lady's Broom : As if it were not my 
Lady's Broom, which of them foever had it. 

6. They Confulted in Oxford where they might 
find the bell Argument for their Tythes, fetting afide 
the Jus Divi?ium ; they were advis'd to my Hiftory of 
Tythes; a Book fo much cry'd down by them for- 
merly; (in which, I dare boldly fay, there are more 
Arguments for them than are extant together any 
where :) Upon this, one writ me word, That my 
Hiftory of Tythes was now become like Ee/eus's 
Hasta, to Wound and to Heal. I told him in my 
Anfwer, I thought I could fit him with a better 
inftance. 'Twas poffible it might undergo the fame 
Fate, that Ariflotle, Avicen, and Averroes did in 
France, some Five Hundred Years ago ; which were 
Excommunicated by Stephen Biihop of Paris, [by 
that very name, Excommunicated^ becaufe that kind of 
Learning puzled and troubled their Divinity. But find- 
ing themfelves at a lofs, fome Forty Years after (which 
is much about the time fince I writ my Hiftory) they 
were call'd in again, and fo have continued ever fince. 

£. r ff ^Here is no Prince in Chriftendom but is 
directly a Tradefman, though in another 
•*- way than an ordinary Tradefman. For the 
purpofe, I have a Man, I bid him lay out Twenty 
Shillings in fuch Commodities, but I tell him for every 
Shilling he lays out I will have a Penny. I Trade 
as well as he. This every Prince does in his 
Cuftoms. 

2. That which a Man is bred up in, he thinks no 
Cheating ; as your Tradefman thinks not fo of his 
Profeffion, but calls it a Myftery. Whereas if you 
would teach a Mercer to make his Silks heavier, than 
what he has been ufed to, he would peradventure 
think that to be Cheating. 



TABLE-TALK. 1 1 r 

j. Every Tradefman profefies to cheat me, that 
asks for his Commodity twice as much as it is worth. 

Cratrtttmt. 

1. r~^ AY what you will againft Tradition ; we know 
^^ the Signification of Words by nothing but 
^— * Tradition. You will fay the Scripture was 
written by the Holy Spirit, but do you understand 
that Language 'twas writ in it ? No. Then for Ex- 
ample, take thefe words, [In principio erat verbum\ 
How do you know thofe words fignifie, [In the begin- 
ning was the word,] but by Tradition, becaufe fome 
Body has told you fo ? 

GtoitftAltatittattan. 
1. r I A HE Fathers ufing to fpeak Rhetorically 
brought up Tranfubftantiation : As if be- 
-*■ caufe it is commonly faid, Amicus eft alter 
idem, One mould go about to prove a Man and his 
Friend are all one. That Opinion is only Rhetorick 
turn'd into Logick. 

2. There is no greater Argument (though not us'd) 
againft Tranfubftantiation, than the Apoflles attheirfirfl 
Council, forbidding Blood and Suffocation. Would they 
forbid Blood, and yet enjoin the eating of Blood too ? 

3. The befl way for a pious Man, is to addrefs 
himfelf to the Sacrament with that Reverence and 
Devotion, as if Chrifl were really there prefent. 

Crattnv. 
1. l r I "IS not feafonable to call a Man Traitor that 
has an Army at his Heels. One with an 
-*- Army is a Gallant man. My Lady Cotten 
was in the right, when fhe laugh'd at the Dutchefs of 
Richmond for taking fuch State upon her, when fhe could 
Command no Forces. [She a Dutchefs, there's in Flan- 
ders a Dutchefs indeed ; ] meaning the Arch-Dutchefs. 

Ertnttj). 

f. r I "HE Second Perfon is made of a piece of 
Bread by the Papift, the Third Perfon is 
-*- made of his own Frenzy, Malice, Igno- 
rance and Folly, by the Roundhead [to all thefe the 



U2 TABLE-TALK. 

Spirit is intituled,] One the Baker makes, the other 
the Cobler ; and betwixt thofe Two, I think the Firfl 
Perfon is fufficiently abufed. 

&nttrj. 
i. r I A He Arijlotelians fay, All Truth is contained 
I in Ariflotle in one place or another. Gali- 
■*- Iceo makes Simplicins fay fo, but fhows the 
abfurdity of that Speech, by anfwering, All Truth is 
contained in a leffer Compafs ; viz. In the Alphabet. 
Ari/Iotle is not blam'd for millaking fometimes ; but 
^r^/7<?/<?//<2;zj-formaintainingthofemiflakes. They mould 
acknowledge the good they have from him, and leave 
him when he is in the wrong. There never breath'd 
that Perfon to whom Mankind was more beholden. 

2. The way to find out the Truth is by others mil- 
takings : For if I was to go to fuch a place, and one 
had gone before me on the Right-hand, and he was 
out ; another had gone on the Left-hand, and he was 
out ; this would direct me to keep the middle way, 
that peradventure would bring me to the place I de- 
frr'd to go. 

3. In troubled Water you can fcarce fee your Face ; 
or fee it very little, till the Water be quiet and Hand 
ftill. So in troubled times you can fee little Truth ; 
when times are quiet and fettled, then Truth appears. 

Erml. 

1. r I ^ Rials are by one of thefe three ways; by 
Confeffion, or by Demurrer, that is, Confeff- 
-*- ing the Fact, but denying it to be that, 
wherewith a Man is charged. For Example, Denying 
it to be Treason, if a Man be charged with Treafon ; 
or by a Jury. 

3. Ordalium was a Trial ; and was either by going 
over Nine red hot Plough-Shares, (as in the Case of 
Queen Emma, accus'd for lying with the Bifhop of 
Winchefler, over which fhe being led Blindfold ; and 
having pafs'd all her Irons, afk'd when me fhould come 
to her Trial ; ) or 'twas by taking a red hot Coulter in 
a Man's hand, and carrying it fo many Steps, and then 
calling it from him. As foon as this was done, the 



TABLE-TALK. 113 

Hands or the Feet were to be bound up, and certain 
Charms to be faid, and a day or two after to be 
open'd; and if the parts were whole, the Party was 
judg'd to be Innocent ; and fo on the contrary. 

3. The Rack is us'd no where as in England: In 
other Countries 'tis ufed in Judicature, when there 13 
a Semiplena probatio, a half Proof againfl a Man ; 
then to fee if they can make it full, they Rack him if 
he will not Confefs. But here in England they take 
a Man and Rack him, I do not know why, nor when ; 
not in time of Judicature, but when fome Body bids. 

4. Some Men before they come to their Trial, are 
cozen'd to Confefs upon Examination : Upon this 
Trick, they are made to believe fome Body has con- 
feffed before them ; and then they think it a piece of 
Honourtobeclear and ingenious, and thatdeftroys them. 

2Sntfo£r£tt£. 

r. r ff "HE beft Argument why Oxford mould have 
precedence of Cambridge is the Act of Par- 
-*- liament, by which Oxford is made a Body ; 
made what it is ; and Cambridge is made what it is ; 
and in the Act it takes place. Befides Oxford has 
the beft Monuments to fhow. 

2. 'Twas well laid of One, hearing of a Hiftory 
Lecture to be founded in the Univerfity ; Would to 
God, fays he, they would direct a Lecture of Difcretion 
there, this would do more good there an hundred times. 

3. He that comes from the Univerfity to govern the 
State, before he is acquainted with the Men and 
Manners of the Place, does juft as if he fhould come 
into the prefence Chamber all Dirty, with his Boots 
on, his riding Coat, and his Head all daub'd ; They 
may ferve him well enough in the way, but when he 
comes to Court, he muft conform to the Place. 

1. (^ Uppofe a man find by his own inclination he 
^"^ has no mind to marry, may he not then Vow 
^-^ Chaftity? Anjw. If he does, what a fine 

thing hath he done? 'tis as if a man did not love 



114 TABLE-TALK. 

Cheefe; and then he would vow to God Almighty 
never to eat Cheefe. He that Vows can mean no more 
in fenfe, than this; To do his utmofl endeavour to 
keep his Vow. 

1. r I ^HE Jews were forbidden to take Ufe one 

of another; but they were not forbidden to 

-*- take it of other Nations. That being fo, I 

fee no reafon, why I may not as well take Ufe for my 

Money as Rent for my Houfe. 'Tis a vain thing to 

fay, Money begets not Money ; for that no doubt it does. 

2. Would it not look odly to a Stranger, that fhould 

come into this Land, and hear in our Pulpits Ufury 

preach'd againfl; and yet the Law allow it? Many 

men ufe it; perhaps fome Churchmen themfelves. 

No Bifhop nor Ecclefiaftical Judge, that pretends 

power to punifh other faults, dares punifh, or at leaft 

does punifh any man for doing it. 

piou* mm. 

i. r I "* HE ground of the Ordinary's taking part of a 
Man's Eftate (who dy'd without a Will) to 
-*■ Pious Ufes, was this ; To give it fome body 
to pray, that his foul might be deliver'd out of Purga- 
tory, now the pious Ufes come into his own Pocket. 
'Twas well expreft by John O Powls in the Play, who 
acted the Pried; one that was to be hang'd, being 
brought to the Ladder, would fain have given fome- 
thing to the Poor ; he feels for his Purfe, (which John 
O Powls had pickt out of his Pocket before) miffing 
it, crys out, He had lod his Purfe; now he intended 
to have given fomething to the Poor : John O Fouls 
bid him be pacified, for the Poor had it already. 

Sraar. 
i. 1 \0 not under-value an Enemy by whom you 
1 have been worded. When our Country- 
°*~-^ men came home from fighting with the 
Saracens, and were beaten by them, they pictured 
them with huge, big, terrible Faces (as you dill fee the 
Sign of the Saracen' s-head is) when in truth they were 



TABLE-TALK. 115 

like other men. But this they did to fave their own 
Credits. 

2. Martial-Law in general, means nothing but the 
Martial-Law of this, or that place ; with us to be 
us'd in Fervore Belli, in the Face of the Enemy, not in 
time of Peace; there they can take away neither 
Limb nor Life. The Commanders need not complain 
for want of it, becaufe our Anceftors have done 
Gallant things without it. 

3. Queftion. Whether may Subjects take up Arms 
againfl their Prince ? Anfw. Concieve it thus ; Here 
lies a Shilling betwixt you and me ; Ten Pence of the 
Shilling is yours, Two Pence is mine : By agreement, 
I am as much King of my Two Pence, as you of 
your Ten Pence : If you therefore go about to take 
away my Two Pence, I will defend it ; for there you 
and I are equal, both Princes. 

4. Or thus, Two fupream Powers meet ; one fays to 
the other, Give me your Land ; if you will not, I will 
take it from you : The other, becaufe he thinks him- 
felf too weak to refill him, tells him, Of Nine Parts I 
will give you Three, fo I may quietly enjoy the reft, 
and I will become your Tributary. Afterwards the 
Prince comes to exact Six Parts, and leaves but Three ; 
the Contract then is broken, and they are inParity again. 

5. To know what Obedience is due to the Prince, 
you mtift look into the Contract betwixt him and his 
People : as if you would know what Rent is due from 
the Tenant to the Landlord, you mull look into the 
Leafe. When the Contract is broken, and there is no 
third Perfon to judge, then the Decifion is by Arms. 
And this is the Cafe between the Prince and the Subject. 

6. Qiieflion. What Law is there to take up Arms 
againfl the Prince, in Cafe he break his Covenant? 
Anfw. Though there be no written Law for it, yet 
there is Cuflom ; which is the bell Law of the King- 
dom • for in England they have always done it. There 
is nothing expreft between the King of England and 
the King of France ; that if either Invades the other's 
Territory, the other fhall take up Arms againfl him, 
and yet they do it upon fuch an Occafion. 



n6 TABLE-TALK. 

7. 'Tis all one to be plunder' d by a Troop of Horfe, 
or to have a Man's Goods taken from him by an Order 
from the Council-Table. To him that dies, 'tis all one 
whether it be by a Penny Halter, or a Silk Garter ; 
yet I confefs the Silk Garter pleafes more ; and like 
Trouts we love to be tickled to Death. 

8. The Souldiers fay they Fight for Honour ; when 
the truth is they have their Honour in their Pocket. 
And they mean the fame thing that pretend to Fight 
for Religion. Jufl as a Parfon goes to Law with his 
Parimioners ; he fays, For the Good of his Succeffors, 
that the Church may not lofe its Right ; when the 
meaning is to get the Tythes into his own Pocket. 

9. We Govern this War as an unfkilful Man does a 
Cafting-Net ; if he has not the right trick to cafl the Net 
off his Shoulder, the Leads will pull him into the River. 
I am afraid we mail pull our felves into Deftruclion. 

10. We look after the particulars of a Battle becaufe 
we live in the very time of War. Where as of Battles 
paft we hear nothing but the number llain. Juft as 
for the Death of a Man ; When he is fick, we talk how 
he flept this Night, and that Night ; what he eat, and what 
he drunk : But when he is dead, we only fay, He died 
of a Fever, or name his Difeafe ; and there's an end. 

11. Boccaline has this paffage of Souldiers, They 
came to Apollo to have their profeffion made the 
Eighth Liberal Science, which he granted. As foon 
as it was nois'd up and down, it came to the Butchers, 
and they defir'd their Profeffion might be made the 
Ninth : For fay they, the Souldiers have this Honour 
for the killing of Men ; now we kill as well as they ; 
but we kill Beafls for the preferving of Men, and why 
mould not we have Honour likewife done to us? 
Apollo could not Anfwer their Reafons, fo he revers'd 
his Sentence, and made the Souldiers Trade a Myftery, 
as the Butchers is. 

ratrrjtiS. 

; . A I "'HE Law againfl Witches does not prove there 

be any ; but it punifhes the Malice of thofe 

-*- people, that ufe fuch means, to take away 

'-nens Lives. If one mould profefs that by turning 



TABLE-TALK. 117 

his Hat thrice, and crying Buz ; he could take away a 
man's life (though in truth he could do no fuch thing) 
yet this were a juft Law made by the State, that who- 
foever fhould turn his Hat thrice, and cry Buz ; with an 
intention to take away a man's life, fhall be put to death. 

OTtfe. 

1. V TE that hath a handfome Wife, by other men 
I I is thought happy; 'tis a pleafure to look 
*■- -*- upon her, and be in her company ; but the 

Husband is cloy'd with her. We are never content 

with what we have. 

2. You fhall fee a Monkey fometime, that has been 
playing up and down the Garden, at length leap up 
to the top of the Wall, but his Clog hangs a great 
way below on this fide ; the Bifhop's Wife is like that 
Ivlonkey's Clog, himfelf is got up very high, takes 
place of the Temporal Barons, but his wife comes a 
great way behind. 

3. 'Tis reafon a man that will have a Wife fhould 
be at the charge of her Trinkets, and pay all the fcores 
fhe fets on him. He that will keep a Monkey, 'tis fit 
he fhould pay for the Glaffes he breaks. 

r. \ Wife Man fhould never refolve upon any 
/-\ thing, at leafl never let the World know his 
**■ •*- Refolution, for if he cannot arrive at that, 
he is afham'd. How many things did the King refolve 
in his Declaration concerning Scotland, never to do, 
and yet did 'em all ? A man muft do according to 
accidents and Emergencies. 

2. Never tell your Refolution before hand; but 
when the Caft is thrown, Play it as well as you can to 
win the Game you are at. 'Tis but folly to ftudy, how 
to Play Size-ace, when you know not whether you 
fhall throw it or no. 

3. Wife Men fay nothing in dangerous times The 
Lion you know call'd the Sheep, to ask her if his 
breath fmelt ; fhe faid, Ay ; he bit off her head for a 
fool. He c?.U'd the Wolf and askt him : He faid no ; 



rr3 TABLE TALK. 

he tore him in pieces for a Flatterer. At lafl he call'd 
the Fox and afk'd him : truly he had got a Cold and 
could not fmell. King fames was piclur'd 6r*c. 



i. T T J IT and Wifedom differ; Wit is upon the 
V/l/ fudden turn, Wifedom is in bringing 
* * about ends. 

2. Nature mufl be the ground-work of Wit and Art ; 
otherwife whatever is done will prove but Jack- 
puddings work. 

3. Wit mufl grow like Fingers ; if it be taken from 
others, 'tis like Plums ftuck upon Black thornes ; there 
they are for a while but they come to nothing. 

4. He that will give himfelf to all manner of ways 
to get Money may be rich ; fo he that lets fly all he 
knows or thinks, may by chance be Satyrically witty. 
Honefty fometimes keeps a man from growing rich ; 
and Civility from being witty. 

5. Women ought not to know their own Wit, be- 
caufe they will flill be fhewing it, and fo fpoil it ; like a 
Child that will continually be fhewing its fine new Coat, 
till at length it all bedawbs it with its Pah-hands. 

6. Fine Wits deflroy themfelves with their own 
Plots, in meddling with great affairs of State. They 
commonly do as the Ape that fawthe Gunner put Bullets 
in the Cannon, and was pleas'd with it, and he would 
be doing fo too ; at laft he puts himfelf into the Piece, 
and fo both Ape, and Bullet were fhot away together. 

W&amtn. 

1. T" ET the Women have power of their heads, 
becaufe of the Angels. The reafon of the 
-* — ' words, becaufe of the Angels, is this ; The 
Greek Church held an Opinion that the Angels fell in Love 
with Women. This fancy Saint Paul difcreetly catches, 
and ufes it as an Argument to perfwade them to modefly. 
2. The Grant of a place, is not good by the Canon- 
Law before a man be dead ; upon this ground fome 
mifchief might be plotted againfl him in prefent 
poffeffion, by poifoning, or fome other way. Upon 



TABLE-TALK. 119 

the fame reafon a Contract made with a Woman during 
her husband's life, was not valid. 

3. Men are not troubled to hear a Man dif- 
praifed, becaufe they know, though he be naught, 
there's worth in others. But Women are mightily 
troubled to hear any of them spoken againft as if the 
Sex it felf were guilty of fome unworthinefs. 

4. Women and Princes mufl both truft fomebody ; 
and they are happy, or unhappy according to the 
defert of thofe under whofe hands they fall. If a man 
knows how to manage the favour of a Lady, her 
Honour is fafe, and fo is a Princes. 

5. An Opinion grounded upon that, Genefts 6. The 
Sons of Godfawthe Daughters of Menthatthey were fair. 

fear. 

1. r I ^Was the manner of the Jews (if the Year 
did not fall out right, but that it was dirty 
-*- for the people to come up to Jerufalem, at 
the Feaft of the Paffover ; or that their Corn was not 
ripe for their firfl Fruits) to intercalate a Month, and 
fo to have, as it were, two Februarys; thrufling up the 
Year dill higher, March into April's place, April into 
May's place, &>c. Whereupon it is impoflible for us 
to know when our Saviour was born, or when he 
dy'd. 

2. The Year is either the year of the Moon, or the 
Year of the Sun ; there's not above Eleven days differ- 
ence. Our moveable Feafts are according to the Year 
of the Moon ; elfe they mould be fixt. 

3. Though they reckon Ten days fooner beyond 
Sea ; yet it does not follow their Spring is fooner than 
ours ; we keep the fame time in natural things, and 
their Ten days fooner, and our Ten days later in thofe 
things mean the felf fame time ; juft as Twelve Sons in 
French, are Ten Pence in Englilh. 

4. The lengthening of days is not fuddenly perceiv'd 
till they are grown a pretty deal longer, becaule the 
Sun, though it be in a Circle, yet it feems for a while 
to go in a right Line. For take a Segment of a great 
Circle efpecially, and you fhall doubt whether it be 



^uJZZX/ 



TABLE-TALK. 



ftraight or no. But when that Sun is got paft that 
Line, then you prefently perceive the days are length- 
ened. Thus it is in the Winter and Summer Solftice ; 
which is indeed the true reafon of them. 

5. The Eclipfe of the Sun is, when it is new Moon; 
the Eclipfe of the Moon when 'tis full. They fay 
Dionyfius was converted by the Eclipfe that happened 
at our Saviour's Death, becaufe it was neither of theie, 
and fo could not be natural. 

Ztlute. 

t. /^VNE would wonder Chrift mould Whip the 
I 1 Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple, and 
^-^ no Body offer to refill him (confidering what 
Opinion they had of him.) But the reafon was, they 
had a Law, that whofoever mould profane Sanftitatem 
Dei, aat Tanpli; the Holinefs of God, or the Temple, 
before Ten perfons, 'twas lawful for any of them to 
kill him, or to do any thing this fide killing him ; as 
Whipping him, or the like. And hence it was, that 
when one flruck our Saviour before the Judge where 
it was not lawful to ftrike (as it is not with us at this 
day) he only replies ; If I have fpoken evil, bear wit- 
ness of the Evil; but if well why fmiteft thou me? 
He fays nothing againft their fmiting him, in cafe he 
had been guilty of fpeaking Evil, that is Blafphemy ; 
and they could have prov'd it againft him. They that 
put this law in Execution were called Zelots; but 
afterwards they committed many Villainies. 



FINIS. 



J. <S IV. Rider, Printers, London. 







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